HÀ NỘI – Students in nearly 30 provinces and cities across Việt Nam returned to school on Monday morning after a long break since early February due to COVID-19.

Most of the students are 9th and 12th graders who set to take the two key examinations for high school entrance and graduation in the next few months. Students in other grades are expected to return to school in the following weeks.

Nguyễn Huệ Khải, director of Ninh Thuận Province’s Department of Education and Training, said that local schools had cleaned and prepared regarding COVID-19 prevention and control before receiving students.

Before class, students had their temperature checked and their hands washed with soap or antibacterial gel. In class, they wear face masks and keep a safe distance from each other.

Minh Nguyệt, principle of Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Secondary School in Thuận Nam District, said that all students strictly followed preventive measures.

The school co-operated with local authorities and students’ families to ensure safe distance when students were taken to school and picked up later, avoiding public gatherings, Nguyệt said.

Students were also told to limit gathering and not buy street food in front of the school, she said.

Vice chairman of Ninh Thuận Province People’s Committee Lê Văn Bình said that the committee asked local authorities and schools to ensure disease prevention and control measures when reopening schools. Now, the province is classified in the group of low risk of disease infection.

Over 104,000 students in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province reportedly went to school on Monday morning.

Hồ Lê Minh Thư, a 12th grader in Huế High School for the Gifted, said that she was very happy to go back to school, meeting teachers and friends.

“My teachers kept telling us how to protect our health and keep a safe distance when at school,” she said.

The school principle Nguyễn Phú Thọ said that the staff cleaned all corners of the school.

The number of students in every class was reduced and re-arranged to avoid crowds.

Director of the province’s Department of Education and Training Nguyễn Tân said that on Monday, secondary and high school students returned to school while younger students would go back on May 4.

“Students are not having lunch at schools during this time and primary school students would have either morning classes or afternoon classes, not both as previously,” Tân said.

Safe distance is kept among students in class in Hưng Bình Secondary School in Nghệ An Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

In the central province of Phú Yên, over 32,000 high school students returned to school on Monday morning.

Phan Văn Khoa, principle of Lương Thế Vinh Secondary School, said that the school prepared necessary facilities including ten sinks for students to wash their hands.

Over 230 students from grade 9 in the school were divided into 12 groups to study in 12 classrooms, so safe distance was ensured, he said.

Director of Phú Yên Province’s Health Department Nguyễn Thị Mộng Ngọc said that health workers helped to train teachers and healthcare officers at schools in disease prevention and control.

She also called for co-operation from students and their families, for example, if they returned from areas at risk of COVID-19 infection, they should report to local authorities as soon as possible.

Localities that reopened secondary schools and high schools on Monday include Điện Biên, Sơn La, Bắc Kạn, Tuyên Quang, Hoà Bình, Bắc Ninh, Ninh Bình and Nam Định in the north, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, Phú Yên, Bình Định, Ninh Thuận and Hà Tĩnh in the central region, plus Kiên Giang, Long An, Bạc Liêu, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, Hậu Giang, Đồng Tháp in the south, as well as Đắk Lắk, Kon Tum and Đắk Nông in the Central Highland region.

Other provinces including Gia Lai, Thanh Hoá, Hải Phòng, Yên Bái, Thái Bình and Cà Mau allowed students to return to school from April 20 to April 23 as soon as social distancing measures were eased.

Meanwhile, the other localities planned to reopen schools next month including Bình Thuận, HCM CIty, Hà Nội, Cao Bằng, Long An, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, Quảng Nam, Trà Vinh, Bình Phước and Quảng Ngãi. — VNS

Twelfth-graders at Sông Công high school in Thái Nguyên Province wash hands before entering classes. — VNA/VNS Photo

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