classes resume after the end of the ‘zero Covid-19’ policy

First modification: 02/13/2023 – 10:18

With Stéphane Lagarde, RFI correspondent in Beijing

The photographers went this morning to a primary school in the center of the Chinese capital. “Click-click! The local press immortalized this return to school after long weeks of absence. For this mother of a student, it is a great joy: “At the end of last year there were no classes, but this year everything has back to normal. We stay too long at home with the computer. The children were happy, but for the parents it’s a headache,” she told RFI.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily, two million schoolchildren and high school students returned to class on Monday. It was a special spring school year, as it was the first after the lifting of the “Covid zero” policy. The most relaxed in three years: music in the schoolyard, masks are still the norm, but some teachers shake hands with parents and the sky has turned blue again.

“Today we are happy, the weather is nice. There is music, it’s great. How long has it been? We haven’t had school for three months,” says Tae-oh happily.

Three months without face-to-face classes

After almost three months without face-to-face classes, some of the younger children had almost gotten used to it. “At school we can play with our friends, but classes at home are more comfortable because we get up later,” says a girl.

In the stationery store in the school neighborhood, the saleswoman is also smiling again. “The store is full, the school has started again, we are happy”, she rejoices.

There are many people on the street, and the presence of a traffic officer with a fluorescent vest, headphones and a small loudspeaker attached to his belt to help pedestrians cross the street is also confirmed. “It’s the whole neighborhood that’s coming back to life,” he says. This Monday, the city council has re-launched the alternate circulation according to even and odd license plates to try to alleviate the traffic jams.