In order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the Ministry of Education (the MOE) recently announced the postponement of the start of the spring semester 2020. Students are instructed not to go out, meet people, organize or attend mass gatherings during the winter vacation. After-school training institutions also canceled their offline courses.

To help school pupils continue their studies at home, the MOE has decided to open a “National Online Cloud Classroom” (www.eduyun.cn), an online learning platform offering a variety of courses based on commonly used textbooks in China. Its target users are first grade to twelfth grade pupils.

An MOE official explained: “Whilst classes may be suspended, there is no reason to suspend teaching or learning. A cloud-based classroom has therefore been set up to help children study at home.” The platform will be opened on February 17, the date when schools were initially scheduled to resume classes.

To cater to the needs of students from rural and remote areas with unreliable or no internet connection, China Education Network Television will broadcast relevant courses and learning resources, as required by the MOE.

The MOE has also mobilized resources from local educational government bodies in Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan Province and Zhejiang Province, and encouraged leading schools including Tsinghua University Primary School and High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, to share their online learning resources for free until schools can reopen. The People’s Education Press will also open its digital learning database to the public for free.