Ninth grade students in Ba Vì District returned to school on November 8. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Ninth grade students on the outskirts of Hà Nội will return to school from Monday, the city’s People's Committee has announced.

According to the authorities’ latest order, all communes of 16 suburban districts and a township will open secondary schools for ninth grade students only. Students from other grades will still have to learn online and kindergartens remain closed.

The 17 localities include 16 districts of Đan Phượng, Gia Lâm, Đông Anh, Chương Mỹ, Hoài Đức, Mỹ Đức, Phúc Thọ, Mê Linh, Sóc Sơn, Thạch Thất, Quốc Oai, Thanh Trì, Thường Tín, Thanh Oai, Phú Xuyên and Ứng Hòa and one township of Sơn Tây.

The order also specified that teachers who haven’t been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will teach online only and students have only one session a day.

The suburban district of Ba Vì was the first in Hà Nội to allow its ninth graders to have in-person learning after six months of shutdowns.

As of Monday, all 17 suburban districts and a township of Hà Nội will have its ninth grade students back to school while students in 12 urban districts of Bắc Từ Liêm, Ba Đình, Cầu Giấy, Đống Đa, Hai Bà Trưng, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Đông, Hoàng Mai, Long Biên, Thanh Xuân, Tây Hồ and Nam Từ Liêm still have online lessons.

The city’s department of education has proposed to have high school students back to school after they have been vaccinated.

Hà Nội has about 3,000 schools with more than 2 million students across 30 districts and one township.

On November 19, Chairman of the city’s People Committee Chu Ngọc Anh said 380,000 doses of vaccines for children will be distributed to the city, which will be administered over two days. The authorities will work on plan get vaccinated students back to school.

The Hồ Chí Minh City Department of Education and Training has also recommended that schools should be reopened for fully vaccinated students from grades nine to 12 in COVID-19 low- and medium-risk areas on December 10. — VNS