Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has decided to close all schools in the city for one more week, until February 23 for fears of the spread of Covid-19 outbreak.

It will extend the closure time to three weeks while all schools are asked to conduct disinfection work during that time.

Hanoi will close schools for one more week. Photo: Zing

The decision of lengthening the closing time in Hanoi has largely resulted from parents’ expectations to keep their children home.

Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training Chu Xuan Dung said at a meeting on Feb 14 that parents expressed concerns over the sudden increase of infected people in China, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Up to 80% of parents in several parts of Hanoi said in different surveys that they did not want to let their children go to school at this time.

Hanoi has more than two million schoolchildren of all levels.

In a related move, Mr. Chung has asked the municipal Department of Education and Training to propose the Ministry of Education and Training allow for four school breaks like other countries.

Accordingly, the summer break would be 35 days (instead of two or three months like currently) while the Lunar New Year or Tet holiday would be a month (instead of a week before), and two remaining recesses would last for two weeks each.