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September 6, 2019

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Campaign to take aim at overuse of campus apps

Source: Xinhua | 00:19 UTC+8 September 6, 2019 | Print Edition

The Ministry of Education will launch a campaign to curb the overuse of apps on campuses, Lei Chaozi, an official of the ministry, has said.

Operators of educational apps are required to register their apps with the government by the end of this year, the ministry said in a press release yesterday.

Eight government departments, including the ministry, have jointly issued a directive to regulate the use of educational apps in schools.

The overuse of apps in some schools as well as harmful information and rampant advertisements on some apps have bothered teachers and added unnecessary burdens on students and their families, according to Lei.

According to the document, the government will develop a database of educational apps and step up supervision over their content and operation.

Operators of these apps should establish internal management over the personal information they collect from users, inform users of why they need to collect such information and how they will use it, and obtain users鈥 consent before collecting the information, the directive said.

They should also obtain a guardian鈥檚 consent before collecting personal information from the minors, it added.

The education authority and schools will be tasked with selecting educational apps used in schools but they should consider opinions from faculty, students and their parents.

The third-party app developers must sign data safety agreements with the universities before collecting personal information via the apps, Lei added.

An educational app selected as a regular teaching tool should not charge students and their families fees nor contain commercial advertisements or games, according to the directive.

In some universities, students are reportedly obliged to download and use various apps in many situations such as getting hot water and even doing exercises.

An inspection in March by the ministry found that 89 out of 100 universities have fewer than five apps.

Nevertheless, some universities have developed and introduced more than 20 apps, which has created problems for some students and teachers, Lei said.

The campaign will intensify management of the development of campus apps, requiring that the development of apps by university administrative departments or teachers must be approved by the universities themselves.

The number of apps for a university is strictly limited, according to Lei.

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