Ensuring safety should be the prerequisite for classes resumption across China as the COVID-19 epidemic situation has been eased, an official with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in a recent interview.

Some grades of primary and secondary schools in all provincial-level areas in China have decided to resume classes, said Wang Dengfeng, director of the MOE leading group office on the COVID-19 response, noting the estimated intensive classes resumption in May will be a big test for education authorities.

Education organs have ordered differentiated schedules for primary and secondary schools to start new semesters, allowing senior students to resume classes in advance, Wang said, adding that more students will be back to campus as more epidemic containment measures are in place.

Wang underscored that schools are allowed to resume operation only when the epidemic is basically controlled and the epidemic prevention measures are adopted to protect the health of teachers and students on campus.

The MOE also required schools to roll out contingency plans to cope with the risk of virus transmission before resuming classes, Wang said, noting that some schools are devising emergency response plans, demanding special vehicles to transfer people with symptoms including fever and cough or confirmed COVID-19 cases to hospitals.