School officials spray disinfectant in a classroom in Bac Giang province. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Students in Hanoi's public schools from kindergarten to senior highschool will not return to school until after March 8, Chairman of the city’sPeople’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has said.
Chung made the announcement at a city-level meeting onprevention of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Hanoion February 28.
“Our goal is to avoid human-to-human transmission of thecoronavirus in the city, but we still have different scenarios to prepare forthe worst,” he said.
International schools in the capital are allowed to re-open onMarch 2 if they have confirmed their schools are safe and parents agree fortheir children to attend, the chairman added.
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City will allow students from kindergarten to 11th grade stay home until March 15, while 12th graders are to return toschool after March 8.
Vinh Long province and Da Nang City will have 12th graders anduniversity students return to school on March 2, and students of all levelsreturn on March 16 and March 8, respectively.
In Nghe An, Hoa Binh and Ha Tinh, senior and junior high school students willreturn to school after March 1 and 8 respectively, while students at otherlevels will stay home until after March 15.
In most other provinces, junior and senior high schools will re-open onMarch 2, while elementary schools and kindergartens will remain close untilafter March 8.
The localities’ announcements came after theMinistry of Education and Training on February27 gave out its recommendation on the schools’ reopening dates asparents stayed on high alert over the worsening outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide.
Accordingly, the ministry proposed the People’s Committees of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities to let high school andregular education centres students go back to school on March 2.
As for younger children at kindergarten, primary and secondaryschools, the local authorities can consider extending the school closure foranother one or two weeks depending on their own circumstances.
“The outbreak is getting very complicated but we can’t sit stillwaiting till the outbreak is over and let the students go back to school,” Education Minister Phung Xuan Nha said in a Government’s meeting this week.
The ministry this week had to adjust the school year term for2019-2020 after schools nationwide were forced to close amid the COVID-19outbreak in Vietnam.
The school year will set to end by June 30, with high schoolenrollment done by August 15. The most important examination of the year – thenational high school graduation test of which the results will determine if onecan enter a university – will take place between July 23 and July 26, accordingto the ministry.
The Government and the Ministry of Education and Training wasunder great pressure for the last week to reopen schools as all 16 patientsinfected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Vietnam fully recovered with the last onedischarged from the hospital on February25.
No new cases were reported for the last 16 days.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) on February 28 sent notices to the Ministryof Education and Training, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairsand the People’s Committees of all municipalities asking themto strengthen health precautionary measures at schools and dormitories.
The MoH demanded all schools and dormitories be disinfectedthoroughly before students return to schools./.
