The start of the new semester is imminent, and education restoration should be put on the agenda

【Guangming Times Review】

　　With the end of the Spring Festival holiday, primary and secondary schools across the country have started school one after another.

According to reports, primary and secondary schools in Qingdao, Shandong, and Jiangxi will officially start school on February 6, and primary and secondary schools in Beijing will also start school on February 13.

　　Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the education and teaching process has faced unprecedented uncertainties and had to meet unprecedented challenges. Educators and parents across the country have made great efforts and efforts to overcome the difficulties brought about by online teaching. To solve some difficult problems, we worked together to improve teaching methods and improve teaching efficiency, and achieved hard-won results.

　　But we must also be soberly aware that although we minimize the impact of the epidemic disturbance on education, some areas of education are still lost and weakened, which has a certain impact on the hearts and growth of minors.

In this regard, we should pay full attention and conduct scientific evaluation.

　　Specifically, the impact of the epidemic disturbance on students' spirit, etc., is due to the restriction of their activity space due to the prevention and control measures such as home isolation, or the development of various physical functions and skills is delayed, and their physical fitness is reduced.

The second is that under social isolation, lifestyles are adjusted to varying degrees, which may affect the development of minors' social awareness and abilities, and affect the development of their social cognition and social skills.

Third, the overall learning effect of online classes is lower than that of on-site classroom teaching.

Relevant surveys have pointed out that about two-thirds of students cannot learn self-discipline and autonomy, have no motivation to learn, have incomplete learning processes, fail to acquire learning methods, or directly affect their subsequent studies and further education.

Fourth, with the reduction of peers and social interactions, some students have weakened interest in the real world, and some are addicted to games and various social media.

In addition, some students' psychological toughness has declined, and they have accumulated various psychological problems, such as anxiety and depression, whether hidden or obvious.

　　With the continuous optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, 2023 can be described as a critical reconstruction year for school education.

Restoring the impacted education concepts, education work order, and education-related social organizational structures and systems should all be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Adhering to the people-oriented principle, taking high-quality and modernization as the basic goal, improving educational efficiency, doing a good job in post-epidemic education restoration, eliminating the impact, and boosting confidence will be the top priority of education work in the new semester and for a period of time to come.

　　The reconstruction of education after the epidemic is a systematic process.

A report released by UNICEF in December 2022 showed that among the approximately 2 billion school-age children in the world, 1.6 billion missed a large amount of classroom time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this learning loss may be permanent.

With regard to the restoration and reconstruction of the education system, first of all, the author believes that it is necessary to conduct corresponding investigations, evaluations, and identifications of the physical conditions of teachers and students at the beginning of the new school year, refer to medical and related research, and appropriately reduce the amount of physical activity and physical activity. According to the difficulty of the test, adjust the teaching arrangement to minimize and avoid secondary injuries.

Recently, according to media reports, in order to protect the life and health of students to the greatest extent, many places have announced that the boys' 1,000-meter run and girls' 800-meter run will be cancelled.

Secondly, it may be necessary to systematically analyze various factors to determine what framework and model to use for education to reconstruct the future, and how to promote the enthusiasm and autonomy of teachers and students to be more fully utilized.

Furthermore, how to compensate and restore the academic and ability of students affected by the epidemic should be regarded as a special topic for a period of time to come, and this will be researched, explored and promoted.

(Author: Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences)