Schools in Nghe An are ready to welcome students back.

Safety in every classroom

Before the students returned to school, Nam Dan 2 High School held an urgent meeting with all teachers in the school to carry out cleaning work and develop a new curriculum. Among the planned tasks, the issue of how to implement social distancing in each classroom was of most concern to teachers, because for a school with more than 1,000 students, this is not an easy task.

Speaking more about this, teacher Ho Quoc Viet - Principal of the school said: We have calculated that if we divide the classes to teach, it will not be reasonable because 1 teacher not only teaches 1 class but also involves the schedules of many other classes. Therefore, if before, we had 1 desk/2 students, now the school will combine 2 desks together and will rearrange 2 desks/3 students. In addition, the schedule of the grades will also change with 11th and 12th graders studying in the morning and 10th graders studying in the afternoon. This will limit the number of students gathering in each class.

Teachers at Nguyen Truong To High School instruct students on safe hand washing. Photo: My Ha

On April 23 and 24, high schools and middle schools in Dien Chau mobilized all staff and teachers to conduct a general cleaning and wipe down of learning materials. On April 24, the schools were provided with nearly 90 kg of chemicals to disinfect the entire school area. The schools also installed 200 more hand washing taps and soap, and each classroom was equipped with hand sanitizer and a thermometer.

Dien Chau district is ready to welcome students back to school. Photo: Mai Giang

Dien Chau district also applies shift learning to reduce the number of students in each session by having high school students, grades 11 and 12 study in the morning, and grade 10 study in the afternoon. For middle school, grades 8 and 9 study in the morning and grades 6 and 7 study in the afternoon. With careful preparation, Dien Chau district is ready to welcome nearly 27,000 middle school and high school students back to school on April 27.

Parents participate in renovating the school dormitory at Luu Kien Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities before welcoming students back to school. Photo: Dinh Tuan

At Luu Kien Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, after a long period of disuse due to students being off to prevent and fight the Covid-19 pandemic, some dormitories of students at Luu Kien Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities have been degraded. On the morning of April 24, school staff, teachers and parents repaired the damaged areas due to termites to ensure the safety of students. Materials used for repairs such as bamboo, water, etc. were all voluntarily contributed by parents.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung - Principal of Luu Kien Boarding Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities said: "To ensure both the progress of work as planned and to ensure good prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic, instead of mobilizing teachers from the whole school to support for 1 day, the school only mobilizes a few parents, the remaining parents will be mobilized in the following time. All staff, teachers, and parents must wear masks and while working, they are divided into small groups and keep a safe distance."

Early stabilization of teaching and learning in schools

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long inspected hygiene work at Nguyen Duy Trinh High School. Photo: My Ha

According to the plan of the Provincial People's Committee, from next Monday (April 27), nearly 280,000 students at secondary and high school levels will return to school after many months of continuous absence to prevent and avoid the Covid-19 epidemic. To ensure absolute safety for students, immediately after the announcement of the Provincial People's Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long and representatives of the Education sector and some related sectors also went to inspect the work at the schools.

Coming to Nguyen Duy Trinh High School (Nghi Loc), although the school has done a good job in propaganda and disease prevention and control in the past, the delegation still reminded the school to install more hand washing taps in addition to the 30 taps the school currently has. Or with Nghi Truong Kindergarten and Primary School, with the characteristics of young students, boarding students and low self-protection awareness, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested teachers to regularly monitor and remind students.

In organizing boarding schools, it is necessary to ensure food hygiene and safety, not allowing children to share utensils such as bowls, plates, and cups, and continue to install additional hand washing taps for students to use regularly and make it a habit in schools. Regarding this issue, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training has also developed safety criteria in schools. In particular, in addition to specifying the basic conditions for students to be able to go to school, such as students coming to school living in areas at risk of infection or additional infection, and families not having subjects subject to quarantine, schools also need to ensure 10 other safety criteria from doing a good job of propaganda, health check-ups, and epidemic prevention hygiene.

During the days when students are preparing to return to school, the organization of teaching and learning also needs to be taken into account. At Le Mao Secondary School, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thu - Principal of the school said: During the school break, the rate of students in the school participating in online learning was nearly 90%. However, when returning to school, we still require teachers to spend time to organize review and re-teach the parts that students do not understand to ensure that all students can keep up with the program.

The Department of Education and Training has issued 10 school safety criteria to help students feel secure when returning to school. Photo: My Ha

At this time, the Department of Education and Training has also developed a program to reduce the workload for all levels of education and the organization of supplementary teaching for students who are absent from school has been instructed by the Department since the beginning of March. Therefore, based on the actual situation, schools will conduct a review to supplement knowledge for schools in the most effective way.

Regarding the organization of teaching for secondary and high school students, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Head of Secondary Education Department - Department of Education and Training said: From next week when students return to school until the end of the school year on July 15, there is still 11 weeks left. Currently, after adjusting the teaching content, high school level needs 6-7 weeks; middle school level needs 8-9 weeks to complete the program. Therefore, if the Covid-19 epidemic situation is controlled, the remaining time is enough and there may be no need to teach extra sessions. We have also directed schools to review and supplement knowledge for students who have studied online but have not met or do not have the conditions to study online before teaching the next new lesson. That means schools can only continue teaching if all students have met the core knowledge standards of that lesson.

Regarding the study plan for the final level, Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training said: The Department is preparing a document to advise the province to reduce the subjects in the 10th grade entrance exam. Immediately after that, the 10th grade entrance exam structure will be issued, focusing on core knowledge after adjusting the content and there will be a document guiding the review of the 10th grade entrance exam so that teachers can guide and organize students to review the right focus, avoiding spreading. As for 12th grade students, the Ministry has a policy of adjustment and at this time, schools are still reviewing the key content to review according to the simplified teaching content. After the Ministry has official instructions, the Department will provide more specific guidance and advice on expertise to adjust the review plan appropriately, close to the nature and goals of the exam.