New curriculum, text books as Chinese schools start academic year

Healthy apps

Sun Xiaoying, a grade two student in a junior high school in Jinan, capital of eastern China's Shandong province, is glad that her father finally understands that cell phones are a useful learning tool rather than a harmful "toy".

Her school has recommended students download several teaching-related apps, on which there are exercises and tests related to their textbooks.

"It is good to see children access healthy content when they use cell phones," said her father Sun Jidong.

Zhang Tao, headmaster of Yucai Middle School in Jinan, said electronic devices were used more and more in teaching and outside the classroom.

"New educational apps are very lively and interactive for students to grasp abstract knowledge. New technology applications in teaching are an inevitable future trend," Zhang said.