Schools display best they have to offer to students

Nearly 120 schools and educational organizations in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region are showcasing courses and programs at the ongoing 20th Shanghai Education Expo.

People can visit special sections at the Shanghai Exhibition Center to find quality schools at their doorstep.

These include Zhangjiang Hi-Tich Experimental Primary School in the Pudong New Area, which is showcasing courses inspiring students' innovation, and Yuannan Middle in Xuhui District, where people can see a robot developed by students to play ping pong.

There are also some schools from Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces, which are also showing their courses aiming at promoting overall growth of students.

Among them, two schools from Anhui are showing the talents of their students, such as Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, calligraphy and aerobics.

"Academic learning is only part of education, we have to promote the overall growth of our children, including intelligence and health," said Hou Benzan, principal of the Wuhui Huicui Middle School.

The Primary School Affiliated to Wuhu Normal University also displays a system that can record students' performance on and off campus. This will provide teachers and parents a clear picture of students' strengths and weaknesses and provide individualized teaching and learning plans accordingly.

"The system can clearly show what students are good or poor at, hence we can help them further improve their strengths and make up for their shortcomings," said the school principal Feng Lu. "By doing so, we've found children are happier and more confident.

"We have to know that students have their own potential and they can thrive in different areas. For example, our alumni include famous actor Chen Xiao and entrepreneur Tang Bingsen, founder of online game Happy Farm and beverage company Genki Forest."

There are also enterprises, such as China Mobile, showing how technologies can empower education.

Some schools are showing how they are embracing new technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

At the booth of East China Normal University, visitors can see a robot dog, while nearby is a robot for rescue at the booth of Tongji University.

When going to the exhibition area of Shanghai Art and Design Academy, visitors can see a system that can capture movements of people wearing special equipment, which is being used for teaching opera.

The Shanghai Fengxian Secondary Vocational School is also showing its system for people to control a digital avatar for livestreaming sales. At its booth, visitors can also learn how to repair circuits at home.

Visitors can also try their hands on handcrafts at some vocational schools.

For example, at the booth of the Shanghai Press and Publication Vocational Technical School, people can learn how to use printing technology to paint beautiful fans quickly. They can also learn making cloisonne garniture, decorating metal work, but be aware that it will take a long time.

When tired, visitors can go to the Zhonghua Vocational School to have a rest and taste cookies, tea and coffee made by its students. The school boasts very strong strengths in disciplines such as culinary and air service.

The offline expo will end on Sunday but there is an online version till the end of October. People can search for the mini program "Shanghai Education Expo" on WeChat to tour the expo online.