Shanghai’s educational authorities will continue video recording classes next semester to create a complete set of online classes for primary and secondary school students which will be available to the public for free.

The decision was announced yesterday by Wang Ping, the new director of theShanghai Education Commission.

Wang said the commission has organized more than 1,000 outstanding teachers from across the city to produce 5,000 online classes for students of grades 1-12, covering all courses. They were broadcast on TV and the Internet as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The classes were watched by about 1.5 million students not only in the city, but also around the country and the world.

Wang said the teachers had formed four groups to design, prepare, teach and review the classes to ensure the quality of the largest ever online teaching resource.

“The practices have provided valuable preferences for promoting balanced educational materials and reforming teaching approaches,” said Wang.

He said the classes of outstanding teachers have been shared by all the students.