China warns schools about strict rules for online classes

Some schools require students to clock in and clock out and film themselves studying for long hours

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Students in China are tuning in for classes and flag raising ceremonies on the internet. (Picture: Weibo)

Published: 4:24pm, 12 Feb 2020Updated: 1:36pm, 13 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

As the coronavirus keeps students away from campuses and taking classes online, schools are starting to go overboard in trying to monitor and control what kids are doing at home. At least that’s what China’s Ministry of Education thinks.

The government’s education department recently released a statement decrying schools for making it mandatory for students to clock in and out at specific times of the day. The ministry said schools shouldn’t place a hard minimum on how much a student should study each day, nor should it be mandatory for students to film themselves studying for hours on end. The ministry also warned schools not to overwork teachers by requiring them to record every class and banned kindergartens from hosting online classes.

The ministry is concerned about network capacity, too, as students and teachers go online en masse for the new normal of online learning. It advised schools to work with local authorities and telecom companies to avoid overloading local networks.

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