Some 700 newly enrolled grade 10 students have registered at Experimental High School Affiliated to Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (HSSIAT) in Guangming District before the official start of the fall semester today.

Given the pandemic, students in uniform with backpacks and suitcases were seen entering the campus in two different batches at two time periods yesterday morning.

Some of the newly enrolled grade 10 students pose for a group photo with their teacher on campus in Guangming District yesterday.

At the entrance, students went through a body temperature check, presented their green health codes and their travel records.

Parents were not allowed to enter the campus and only a selected few parents were seen as volunteers helping inside the school.

"This year we canceled the ceremony for the new semester due to the pandemic, but we will hold it later when conditions permit. By then, we would like to invite parents to attend as we expect more interactions between students and parents," said Song Rujiao, principal of HSSIAT.

Students arrive at the school for registration for the new school year yesterday.

According to Song, academicians and professors from both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) will deliver lectures and make exchanges with HSSIAT students during the new term, which is also one of the school’s unique strengths.

HSSIAT covers an area of 34,270 square meters. Its inaugural class of 2021 is further divided into 14 classes. In the future, HSSIAT will have 42 classes to offer a planned total of 2,100 public high school admissions.

Students in a classroom.

"The school is very new and beautiful. I chose the school partially because it is a school affiliated to SIAT and also I know we have many young but excellent teachers so that it is easier for us to communicate. They can also share their learning methods to help us get admitted to our ideal colleges," said a student named Guan Shuxin.

It is said that 103 new schools across the city, including seven new public high schools, are expected to be put into use this month to add over 100,000 more school admissions.

Students attend a class.

In addition to HSSIAT, the other six new public high schools are Northeast Normal University Shenzhen Affiliated School (to enroll 600 students in 12 classes) in Pingshan, Guangdong Experimental High School Shenzhen School (700 students in 14 classes) in Longgang, Experimental High School Affiliated to Shenzhen University (600 students in 12 classes) in Guangming, High School Affiliated to Shenzhen Technology University (600 students in 12 classes) in Pingshan, Shenzhen Hongshan Middle School (600 students in 12 classes) as well as Shenzhen Gezhi Academy (600 students in 12 classes) in Longhua.