As personal computers enter more households, primary and middle schools are jumping onto the high-tech bandwagon.

Guangzhou education authorities have already started work on a computer network that may provide every student with an e-mail address and allow faster communication with teachers and administrators.

Students will soon be able to get their marks and performance reports by logging on to the Guangzhou Education and Research Network (GERN).

"Special e-mail addresses will be provided under the GERN for 1.8 million students in the city," said sources with the Guangzhou Bureau of Education.

In addition to their marks, other information that may impact the students - such as weather and risky Internet resources - will also be sent through e-mails.

The first phase of GERN's trial network, at a cost of nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million), was completed in June. The e-mail network is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The entire project may be finished within three years.

Through GERN, information will also be available to help steer students away from unhealthy Internet websites.

Meanwhile, a basic education Internet classroom will be operational next year, the sources added.

Senior students are expected to apply for optional courses through the virtual classroom.

In addition, some optional courses will also be available for primary school students.

Each course, provided by elite teachers from some key schools, will have 20 hours of lectures per semester.

Students can already access a digital library under GERN. The number of books in the virtual library exceeds 400,000.

As part of the project, a website providing teachers' instructions was also launched earlier this year.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 students visit the website daily.

More than 400 schools are connected to the Net through a secondary node, representing nearly half of the schools with Internet access in the city.

In addition, the Guangzhou Education Bureau plans to invest another 5 million yuan (US$600,000) to ensure the completion of the network within the next three years.