Education Ministry issues rules for schooling apps

Education authorities and schools should ask the opinions of students, parents and teachers before introducing education applications to students, according to a guideline issued by the Ministry of Education and seven other departments on Thursday.

It is the first national guideline regulating education apps used at schools, as there have been many complaints by students and parents concerning this issue. There have been problems with students having to use too many apps, and some apps collecting user’s personal information or containing pornography.

Provincial education authorities should work with other departments to select good education apps before recommending them to schools, the guideline read.

Schools should not charge any fees for education apps for teaching and student management, and the apps should not contain any advertisements and games, it said.

When the school recommends other apps to students, they cannot force students to use them or associate the using of the apps with grades, credit or honorary titles.

The guideline added that apps for student management should be comprehensive and contain different functions in order to cut the number of apps students need to download.