Hanoi reopens schools after long closure over Covid-19

More than 600,000 students from grades 7 to 12 in Hanoi returned to schools after ten months at home studying online today [February 8] with school canteens closed, safety measures strictly enforced and all teachers fully vaccinated.

Covid-19 steering committees at the district level will decide whether in-person learning would be suspended based on the pandemic situation.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh encourages teachers and students of Le Ngoc Han Secondary School in Hai Ba Trung District on February 8. Photo: The Hanoi Times

On the first day of resuming in-person classes, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh also visited and encouraged teachers and students of Le Ngoc Han Secondary School in Hai Ba Trung District.

"The municipal authorities have been preparing carefully for the past several months to welcome students back to school. We hope that all students will have a safe learning environment in the new normal. The city will keep making plans to vaccinate children in the age of 5-11 years old so that they can come back to schools as soon as possible," said the chairman.

He added that the Hanoi People’s Committee had approved a plan on allowing students in grades 1-6 to return to schools in 18 suburban districts throughout the city from February 10.

The school reopening will be carried out in accordance with the pandemic risk level of localities across the capital city, Ngoc Anh stressed.

A delegation led by the Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, Tran The Cuong, inspected Phan Dinh Phung High School and Nguyen Tri Phuong Secondary School in Ba Dinh District, and Chu Van An High School in Tay Ho District where they found that all students and teachers wore face masks and strictly complied with the Covid-19 prevention protocols.

"We have planned and assigned concrete tasks for all teachers and carefully prepared facilities and equipment to ensure safety. Professionally, the school has requested all teachers to review the entire studying program to help review core knowledge for students and coordinate with parents to soon create a habit of face-to-face learning for each student,” Nguyen Thi Nham Huyen, principal of Phan Dinh Phung High School, told The Hanoi Times.

Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong inspects Chu Van An High School in Tay Ho District. Photo: Nam Du/ The Hanoi Times

During a virtual meeting on February 7, the Hanoi Municipal Department of Education and Training proposed that face-to-face learning for students from the first to sixth grades would be resumed in the other 12 districts in downtown Hanoi on February 21.

According to the department’s statistics, more than 99% of teachers, educational staff, and students at the secondary and high school levels in Hanoi have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

Schools in Hanoi have been closed since May 2021 when the fourth wave of Covid-19 broke out.

Around 17.1 million Vietnamese students have returned to school after the Tet holiday.

Particularly, high schools nationwide have reopened after Tet, while secondary schools in 57 out of 63 localities have also resumed in-person teaching.

Schools have in place safety measures like temperature checks at the gate and rehearsed for the event of detected infection.

Students at Nguyen Tri Phuong Secondary School in Hanoi are in class on February 8. Photo: Duy Khanh/ The Hanoi Times

Before the Lunar New Year holiday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered local authorities, especially localities with high vaccination coverage for children aged between 12 and 17, to reopen the schools for this age group as soon as possible after the holiday.

The Ministry of Health is buying more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to immunize children aged 5-12 and recommends that everyone should be vaccinated.

Most schools in the country are due to reopen by the middle of February, the health ministry said in a statement.

School reopening should follow the spirit of adaptability, flexibility, and safety against the pandemic to promote effective teaching.

The Ministry of Education and Training has asked the people's committees of provinces and cities to guide educational institutions in dealing with different pandemic scenarios during in-person learning at the school.

In addition, it is necessary for schools to earn consensus among parents to allow their children to go to school and conduct anti-pandemic rehearsal to ensure safety at educational institutions.

In the early days of returning to school, educational institutions are required to coordinate with medical facilities, relevant agencies, and parents to update information on the pandemic situation and psychological developments of students.