A primary school in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou held an online parent-teacher meeting on October 10, 2007, providing a novel and instant way to foster communication between the two sides. [Photo: chinanews.com.cn]

A primary school in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou held an online parent-teacher meeting on Wednesday, providing a novel and instant way to foster communication between the two sides.

At 4:30 PM on Wednesday, after students were released from school, Li Yujuan, head teacher of Grade 5 at Yong'an Street Primary School, opened her laptop to commence the online conference.

"Was not yesterday's homework too much? My kid did it until 11pm at night," a father said on the class forum. "My son did his homework until 10:30," complained another parent.

"I'm sorry, I'll talk to the other teachers," Ms Li replied.

During the half-hour meeting, the head teacher talked to the parents via the online forum, while answering SMS messages over her cell phone and checking parents' feedbacks on her blog.

The online meeting saved time and gave them more of a chance to exchange views with the teacher and fellow parents they told the newspaper Orient Today.

The new system will co-exist with traditional face to face parent-teacher meetings, but be held more frequently, Ms Li added.

As to traditional parent-teacher meetings, for the most part, the teacher gives a report and the parents listen. Conversely, an online meeting gives both sides more time to communicate, hence it promotes mutual understanding, said Wang Haiyong, an official with the local educational institute.

However, it will take time for the online parent-teacher meeting system to become popular since currently not many parents are familiar with online chatting.

(CRI October 11, 2007)