First grade students at Thăng Long Primary School in Hà Nội’s Hoàn Kiếm District attend the opening ceremony for the new school year. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Nearly 23 million students nationwide celebrated the official start of the 2020-21 school-year on Saturday morning.

Due to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools held a solemn but short ceremony with the direct attendance of only a limited number of students in line with epidemic prevention measures. Other students followed the ceremony in their classrooms.

Schools in areas under social distancing held online ceremonies to ensure health and safety for students.

In the central city of Đà Nẵng, which was the hardest affected by the latest outbreak of coronavirus, local students celebrated the start of the school-year with a virtual programme broadcast on Đà Nẵng TV at the same time with ceremonies in other localities.

Party General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng sent a letter to teachers, educational workers and students across the country on the occasion.

He praised the efforts of the education sector to weather the COVID-19 storm, saying that despite the pandemic severely disrupting classes and educational activities during the last school year, the sector actively and promptly took concerted action to effectively prevent the spread of the coronavirus in schools while completing academic plans.

Students of Hà Huy Tập Secondary School in central Nghệ An Province’s Vinh City at the beginning of the new school year. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

Schools also made use of the occasion to guide students in measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to projects of the Ministry of Education and Training, in the 2020-21 school year, there will be more than 5.38 million children attending kindergartens, 8.7 million students at elementary schools, over six million at lower junior high schools and over 2.8 million at senior high schools in the country. — VNS