Hanoi is making thorough preparations to allow students to come back to school, with the highest priority given to ensure safety for both teachers and students, thus the reopening of schools must be gradual and careful, Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung told the press.
According to Dung, Hanoi has nearly 3,000 schools with approximately 2.1 million students. All students in the city have not been vaccinated, so it is very risky to simultaneously reopen all schools amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since October 11, the average number of COVID-19 infections per day in Hanoi has increased sharply, many times higher than in the previous period (September 21 to October 10).
The capital city has recently recorded several locally-acquired clusters in districts, such as Quoc Oai, Me Linh, Gia Lam, Hoang Mai and Dong Da.
Hanoi faces high risk of COVID-19 spreading as the pandemic has already “spread widely in the community”, thus the municipal authorities must be more cautious about the resumption of in-person learning and teaching.
Underlined the necessity to reopen schools, Secretary Dung affirmed that Hanoi would resume in-class teaching and learning activities in safe manner.
The municipal authorities decided to allow students of grades 6, 9, 10 and 12, living in pandemic-free areas (also called green zones) to return to school from November 8.
Meanwhile, metropolitan districts with a high population density are required to closely monitor the pandemic situation for consideration in the time ahead.
Dung also informed that the Health Ministry would allocate the Pfizer vaccine to Hanoi in November to vaccinate children under 18, while urging the ministry to pay full attention and assist the city in giving COVID-19 vaccine shots to students before returning to school, minimizing the risk for children.
Teachers who have not received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are not allowed to teach in-person classes.
The Party chief asked the municipal authorities to make scenarios to ensure safety for students when they return to school.
Classes must be disinfected, antiseptic solutions and electronic thermometers must be made available, and teachers need to be trained to handle students showing COVID-19 symptoms, he ordered.
The Party organizations and authorities of districts and townships, based on the city’s guidelines, are responsible for meeting the safety requirements.
He asked for strong communication to encourage students and their parents to strictly follow the 5K message and other measures issued by the health sector.
15 working teams which were set up under Decision No. 1103-QD/TU dated June 4, 2021 of the municipal Party Committee’s Standing Commission are tasked to conduct regular checks on COVID-19 prevention and control at schools.
The official assigned the Department of Health to work with the Department of Education and Training and local authorities to implement vaccination campaign and carry on with the teaching plans.
Along with the re-opening of schools, the municipal Department of Education and Training needs to seek solutions and work out online teaching plans to ensure the best quality of education, he stressed.
Dung also called on local residents to join the authorities at all levels to soon bring the city’s education system come back to the new normal.
Source: Ha Noi Portal