Students in Shanghai can now use electronic student ID cards to gain free or reduced admission to 60 of the city’s science and history museums, sports arenas and cultural venues.

The initiative, which includes activities planned and organized by the venues themselves, is intended to enhance students’ after-school activities. According to EastDay, authorities in Shanghai are also planning to establish a more comprehensive academic evaluation system for students, moving away from its traditional reliance upon exam scores.

Starting this spring, an estimated 1.4 million students from local primary, middle and high schools will be outfitted with the new electronic student ID cards. The cards will be used to record attendance and learning experiences that students partake in outside of the standard classroom environment.

The list of local educational venues includes the Shanghai Civil Defense Museum, the Shanghai Earthquake Science Museum and the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum. Schools have the freedom to organize group trips or allow students to arrange individual visits based to the student’s own interests.

While at the various educational venues, the students’ performance in tasks conducted on site will be recorded on the ID cards themselves for overall evaluation at a later date.

The electronic student ID cards are expected to offer school officials a technological alternative to recording student learning experiences outside school, with the hopes that schools can better evaluate students on more than just test scores.
By next year, the Shanghai project is expected to have more than 200 social venues at which students can further their educational experiences.