College students provide free tutoring to children of medical staff

Students from colleges and universities nationwide are providing free tutoring services to children of medical staff who are busy combating novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP)in an effort to help ease their worries about their youngsters' studies during this critical period.

About 10 universities are organizing students to participate in the voluntary work, including Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shaanxi province, Harbin Institute of Technology in Heilongjiang province and Hebei Normal University, according to a WeChat account of the Communist Youth League of China.

More than 50 students from Hebei Normal University are serving as one-on-one online tutors for children of medical staff in Hebei or those who are fighting on the frontline in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

According to the university, those volunteers will first consult medical staff and their children about specific learning needs and then make plans for each to tutor lessons or help solve problems during their study via online video chats.

Some medical staff who accepted the help said they were really very busy and didn't have time to help their children with homework, it said.

In Northwestern Polytechnical University, more than 600 students have volunteered to tutor. Although the volunteer tutors won't be tasked with directly teaching course lessons, they will tutor and help the young students deal with psychological issues they may have without their mothers or fathers being around.

"I feel honored when I know I can make my own contribution during the joint fight against the virus,"said Zhou Miaolan, a Hebei Normal University student.

Zhou is tutoring a pupil, the child of a doctor surnamed Wang in Hebei General Hospital. Zhou said that the experience also helps her gain some knowledge about teaching.