Students at Royal International Bilingual School in HCM City’s District 7 wear a mask and disinfect their hands before entering their classroom. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Kindergartens and classes for first- to sixth- graders will reopen in HCM City on Monday, but parents and caregivers have the option of not sending children to school if they are fearful of COVID-19.

Students in grades seven to 12 began classes before the Tết (the Lunar New year) holidays from January 31 to February 4.

The city Department of Education and Training has provided detailed instructions for pandemic prevention and other preparations which educational institutions need to make to reopen.

They include pandemic prevention training for teachers and staff.

But if parents do not agree to send their children to school, the latter can continue to study online, and schools will continue to offer them lessons virtually.

Education and training sub-departments across the city have been instructed to find out how many pre-schools remain open and if they have plans in place to take in children from closed institutions and have enough classrooms and teachers.

They also need to have plans to cope with possible COVID cases.

All pre-school students will be instructed to wash their hands before entering class and have their temperature checked.

They will not serve breakfast to students during the first week.

Primary schools in ‘green areas’ – or those without COVID -- will have two sessions a day and offer semi-boarding for all grades.

Those in yellow (medium-risk) areas will also have two sessions and semi-boarding for first and second grades, but only one session for grades three to five.

In orange (high-risk) areas, there will be one session a day for first and second grades, and students in grades three to five will study online.

Schools in red (very high-risk) areas will continue to teach online, focusing on maths, Vietnamese and English for grades one to three, and math, Vietnamese, English, science, history, and geography for grades four and five.

Secondary schools have been instructed to guide sixth graders in self-study methods, and to organise first semester exams for them in school.

Nguyễn Văn Hiếu, director of the department, said schools must arrange schedules to enable parents to pick up and drop off their children and comply with safety regulations.

Primary students back to school 

Hà Nội authority has sent an urgent dispatch allowing students at primary schools and sixth- graders in the city’s 18 outlying districts and towns to get back to in-person classes from February 10.

Students in grades from one to six in areas at low or moderate risk of COVID transmission in the outlying districts and towns will return to school, while others in the same grades in the city’s urban districts will continue to study online at home, according to the dispatch issued on February 5.

The city’s grassroots authorities will be in charge of deciding the returning of these students based on their areas' situation.

Schools must comply with COVID safety measures, while teachers who have got just one dose of COVID vaccine only teach online at home.

In addition, schools must not offer day-boarding services nor open canteens to prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus. — VNS