Students perform during the new semester opening ceremony on Wednesday. Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Jing'an Education College Affiliated School

Shanghai's 1.65 million primary and secondary school students and over 530,000 kindergarten children welcomed the new semester on Wednesday, with all schools well-prepared in order to ensure on-site classes are held in a safe and orderly manner. China now manages COVID-19 as a Class B infectious disease, instead of Class A.

All schools in Shanghai have followed the country's COVID-19 management to further optimize the school management, and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission has issued guidelines including guiding faculty staff and students to do regular health monitoring. Body temperature screening and hand-sanitizing machines are still in place in schools.

On the first day of the new semester, Global Times reporters visited several schools and watched them carry out various activities including the first lesson and opening ceremony to welcome students back to school.

Students in Shanghai Jing'an Education College Affiliated School welcomed their new semester with a fantastic opening ceremony. After the flag-raising ceremony, teachers gave students the first lesson to guide them with a positive and optimistic attitude.

Zhang Renli, principal of the school, told the Global Times on Wednesday that school life is becoming normal and he also wanted to carry out a lively ceremony to give students a pleasant mood for the on-site classes.

In the new semester, Jing'an Education College Affiliated School has various new ideas for establishing a high-quality education system, Zhang said. The school's motto includes being responsible for family and society as well as themselves, according to Zhang.

The principal said that the school has 10 interdisciplinary labs, as interdisciplinary learning aims to cultivate students' ability in problem-solving, innovation and practical capability.

In the first lesson taught by Weng Huili, an ideological and political teacher in Jing'an Education College Affiliated School, Weng and her Grade-9 students were having a heated discussion. Under the topic of "Open and interactive world," Weng did a lot of research in advance and showed her students the current hot topics to guide them to initiate a discussion. Students felt proud and confident when they saw China's rapid development during recent years.

"My students have a very good spiritual outlook," Weng told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In some other schools, they also held different activities to lead students in starting their new semester positively. In the first-floor hall of a teaching building at Shanghai Gezhi High School, some display boards on the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) were showcased for students. Students were given a lecture on the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC. Meanwhile, some students also shared their research results on society changes amid an aging society.

SHNU Yangpu Binjiang Experimental Primary School created a warm and festive environment to welcome back students with display boards containing elements of the Year of the Rabbit to bear the meaning of "advancing by leaps and bounds."

Meanwhile, Shanghai recently promoted new measures to enhance the school canteen food safety management level, aiming to ensure food safety on campus.