Afterschool life more fun for Shanghai students
Young students play curling at a local park during the winter holiday.
When the school bell ringing at Shanghai's Sanmen Middle School at 3pm, Li Muyi and other sixth-grade students rushed to the playground to practice kungfu with their master, a professor from Shanghai University of Sport.
Her older schoolmates were either listening to a lecture about pocket-money management given by undergraduates from the neighboring Shanghai University of Finance and Economics or about electricity safety taught by volunteers from Shanghai University of Electric Power.
Students from nearby Tieling Middle School in Yangpu District were planting vegetables at a "Green Gas Station" garden arranged by the life science college at Tongji University.
"I used to be a shy girl, but after a semester of martial arts practice I become braver and more decisive," said Li, 13. "I also feel like I'm healthier and more forceful."
The afterschool lives, normally between 3 and 5pm, of students at Shanghai's elementary and middle schools have been greatly enriched with various free-interest classes and social practices amid the nation's "double reduction" campaign to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring.
Young students practice street dancing after school.
More than 1.33 million primary and middle school students in Shanghai have participated in afterschool activities, accounting for 96 percent of the total number of students that have gotten involved since the campaign was launched by the State Council, or the nation's Cabinet, in 2021.
About 95 percent of the teachers have plunged themselves into afterschool training and guidance, along with more than 10,000 retired teachers, local juvenile activity centers and other non-academic training organizations, said Zhou Qinjiang, an official with the Shanghai Education Commission.
The commission released a new guideline on the afterschool services for local primary and middle school students on Wednesday, a day before the beginning of the new semester.
The afterschool services, which are free of charge, can include homework tutoring, moral education, reading, science and technology, sports, art, labor practice and safety training, according to the guideline.
A Taekwondo training center for local young students
Retired teachers, university students and qualified personnel from social educational organizations are invited to offer afterschool services along with teachers. They must, however, receive essential training before leading classes.
A number of pilot practices have been developed at local schools, said Zhou.
The Lingling Middle School in Xuhui District, for instance, partners with Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe to invite students to watch traditional Chinese opera after school.
Linyi No. 2 Community Elementary School in the Pudong New Area is holding training sessions for speed skating, ice hockey and skiing during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Jibang Elementary School on Chongming Island invites senior "shoulder pole play" artists, an intangible cultural heritage in Chongming, to teach students after school.
Children drive go karts at a local park.
