Distance learning, or education via set TV programs for elementary or middle school kids has been proven effective since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as their parents keep them away from crowded classrooms.
Lu Chang, a pupil from an elementary school attached to the prestigious Tsinghua University in the national capital, could not go to school to study or play games with her fellow kids, like many other pupils over past few weeks.
Though isolated and confined to her own home, Lu finished all home assignments with the assistance of on-line lessons or television tutorial programs.
She has also made friends with a few children of her age on the Internet and accessed a wide range of interesting knowledge via websites.
Holidays for these school kids began mid April as one of the prompt preventive and control measures taken by school authorities against the SARS disease.
In the hard-raged capital of Beijing, related education departments launched special television programs called "Classrooms in the Air" for over 1.7 million school kids from elementary and middle schools from May 6 to 25.
Other media, including on-line tutoring and Internet courses, were also promoted to support self-study.
To date, elementary school pupils and middle school students in Beijing have been gradually returning to school group by group. And the distance learning they experienced, nevertheless, has left a legacy.
Zhao Ying, Lu's mother and also headmaster of her school, was both delighted and surprised at the wonderful effect of distance learning on her own daughter's education.
"It has not only provided a simple, auxiliary means of education, but poses a serious challenge to our former educational modes and even theories," school headmaster Zhao said.
TV education programs from a distance first emerged in the country in the early 1990s. More than 20 domestic colleges and universities have issued formal academic credentials to those amateur learners who passed exams through distance learning.
However, on-line education has produced a little evident impact on the elementary sector, leaving most primary and middle schools on the margins of the Internet era.
Li Lu, headmaster of Beijing's No. 65 Middle School, acknowledged that kids often had little self-control ability or it is a little difficult for them to behave properly.
"They are apted to be distracted by games and interested in unhealthy information on websites, which parents and teachers dread most. It can also explain why distance learning from TV programs remains low-level in China," Li said.
Nevertheless, the kids' superb performance with this type of learning during the SARS epidemic peak period has helped ease the worries of educational workers.
"School kids could arrange study by themselves and work very hard and their study efficiency has been greatly enhanced," said Zhao Ying, adding that her pupils could adjust their schedules in compliance with their respective progress for on-line courses.
In addition, the website has attracted children with teachers dressed up neatly and more colorfully on line and courses designed in game formats.
"The discovery of prime importance is that many kids have improved their self-study capacity. Students used to be infused with knowledge passively are turning to a more initiative attitude in learning," said Li Lu, who found over 90 percent of his students had done well in their homework.
By the end of 2002, China had had 20.83 million computers linked to the Internet with more than 59.1 million users. Some 70 percent of the households in the country's medium and big cities had computers.
And Ninety-six percent of college students and 80 percent of middle school kids in big and medium-sized cities have access to the website.
The rapid growth of website use is based on the popularization of telephones. Sources from the Ministry of Information Industry indicate that the total number of phone users across China reached 447 million in the first quarter this year. All families in Beijing and Shanghai municipality have telephone potential.
A number of noted educators claim that distance learning might pose a challenge for students weak in self-discipline. Some others argue that study at school is the most essential for the students to learn face-to-face communication and how to get along with others.
However, many experts predict that remote education will remain in spite of the ebb in the number of SARS cases. "There are still so plentiful resources on the Internet waiting to be used in education," Zhao said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2003)
