Students across Vietnam will resume direct learning in a week after Tet holiday except primary school and kindergarten children in Hanoi and some southern provinces, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested at a cabinet meeting on February 3 in accordance with the education minister’s proposal.

Particularly, 100% of high school, college and university students in all the 63 cities and provinces nationwide will return to school for face-to-face learning from the date, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son proposed.

He said authorities in the capital city of Hanoi, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces would consult parents before setting a date for the reopening.

Son also instructed local authorities to ensure students catch up with their lessons, admitting this could take several years.

Students of Viet Duc High School in Hanoi's in Hoan Kiem District on the first day of returning to school in early December 2021. They all wear face masks to prevent the Covid-19. Photo: Ngoc Tu

The minister stressed that schools should identify students' mental issues to provide counseling and psychological support when they return to school.

Besides, all secondary and high schools across the country will open for in-person learning from February 7 to 14, then the education ministry will make the next decision depending on the the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said the biggest wish of the entire sector and himself now is that the pandemic will be brought under control soon so that students can return to school, and educational activities return to normal.

He expressed his hope that teachers and students will exert stronger efforts to achieve the consistent goal of high educational quality while responding and safely adapting to the pandemic as there are numerous tasks as well as difficulties and challenges for the sector in 2022.

The education ministry reported that the rate of students taking direct learning before Tet was 69.3% with nearly 15.68 million students going to school. Fourteen cities and provinces had allowed students to study directly at schools, while 30 combined online and face-to-face learning, and 19 others organized learning activities online or through television.

On January 27, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a handbook on Covid-19 safety at schools, which provides updated guidelines on pandemic prevention in schools following recommendations of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.

The ministry also asked education-training facilities to make preparations for direct learning, while coordinating with the local Department of Health and relevant agencies and parents to give training to students on Covid-19 prevention measures and ensure a good control of the pandemic.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said that the return of students to school is completely grounded and possible, based on high vaccination rates and the low number of severe cases and low mortality.

“The Ministry of Health is basically in favor of the plan to send children back to school after the Lunar New Year. However, we still need to remain vigilant and closely monitor the developments of the disease, especially the Omicron variant,” the deputy minister noted.