BEIJING — Chinese college and university students will soon embrace a "normal, safe and staggered" opening of the spring semester amid coordinated epidemic control efforts.

The Ministry of Education issued a circular on Feb 25, instructing local authorities and schools to make appropriate plans for the start of the new term, issuing the notice in good time and clarifying the requirements for students to return to school.

The circular called for efforts to ensure normal teaching activities and, if necessary, making prior arrangements for online courses.

Education authorities and schools should guide teachers and students to take effective self-protection measures when making their way back to school, it said.

Epidemic prevention and control measures on a regular basis should continue, said the circular, calling for the management of school entries and exits to the convenience of students and strengthening monitoring and disinfection measures at key locations on campus, such as classrooms, canteens and dormitories.