Online classes mark fresh start for spring semester

As schools across the country delay the opening of the spring semester in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, education platforms are providing free online courses to students.

Following the government's suggestion to avoid congregating in crowded places, schools nationwide have asked students to quarantine themselves at home from the risk of infection until further notice.

The novel coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province. It has infected 72,530 people and killed 1,870 across the country as of Feb 18, the latest official data shows.

"We are coordinating and integrating national and regional teaching resources to guarantee online education for students nationwide," Chen Baosheng, minister of education, said at a recent news conference. China has about 280 million students ranging from kindergarten to universities.

On Feb 17, a national class program opened on the National Public Service Platform for Educational Resources to students in all primary and secondary schools, according to the ministry.

For college students, the ministry issued an open letter which suggests they learn and study via the internet while at home.

The hashtag "School suspension doesn't stop studying" has been viewed more than 1 billion times on Sina Weibo.

According to the Ministry of Education, so far, there have been 22 online education platforms offering more than 24,000 college courses for free. They cover 12 undergraduate disciplines and 18 majors in polytechnic and vocational education. Many of them are for-college-credit programs.

One such platform is Umoocs. Covering studies of 10 languages, including Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian and German, Umoocs will open nearly 130 courses.

Its operator, Waiyan Online, a foreign language studying and research server in Beijing, is opening access to its key platforms and apps during the epidemic for free-Ucampus, Uclass, Umoocs, Ulearn, Utalk, iTest and iWrite－to provide online foreign language education to college students and teachers.

"Responding to the Education Ministry's initiative, Waiyan Online supported by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press started offering online solutions for students and teachers on campus targeting foreign language teaching and learning from Jan 30," says Shang Qikun, CEO of Waiyan Online.