Guangzhou braces for wave of students

Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is gearing up to receive more than 300,000 additional students through construction of new schools and the reconstruction and expansion of existing ones during the 14th Five Year Plan period (2021-25).

Additional teachers are also being recruited to work in the city's primary and high schools to promote the high-quality development of basic education, according to a statement released by Guangzhou Bureau of Education recently.

The move aims to meet the growing demand for education from the large number of children of school age who are the second children of their families in the southern metropolis beginning this year, the bureau said.

The city has forecast a school enrollment tide starting this fall, when many local families' second children reach school age, the statement said.

China relaxed its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, allowing couples to have more.

The statement urged the completion of construction and expansion projects on schedule and with high-quality. Meanwhile the education department urged its district departments and major schools to do a better of predicting enrollment demand.

Children can go to primary school whey they turn 6 years old. Education experts have predicted schools in Guangzhou would reach their peak period of enrollment in 2023 and 2024 when local families' second children begin to attend.

Guangzhou has a total of 1,531 primary and middle schools, enrolling about 1.67 million students as of 2020. There were 992 primary schools with about 1.12 million pupils.

Contact the writer at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn