Considerations in organizing teaching when schools have F0

Consider re-organizing teaching for classes with F0 students

On the afternoon of February 14, a week after class 7A - Vinh Tan Secondary School discovered the first Covid-19 case in the classroom, the school re-tested all students in the class before they returned to school. This was the wish of all parents in the class and a solution to ensure the safety of students and teachers in the entire school.

Before making this decision, the school had consulted the ward's Covid-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee. Before students returned, the school had also developed a teaching plan and proposed solutions in case teachers and students became F0 or F1 and could not come to school, so the handling was quite smooth.

Vinh Tan Secondary School tests students before they return to school after detecting an F0 case in the classroom. Photo: MH

Vinh Tan Secondary School -Vinh cityis currently in an area identified as a level 4 epidemic due to many cases.positivewith Covid-19. Right at school, after a week of returning to school, there were 19 F0 students and 68 F1 students. Half of the entire school had to switch to online teaching (including 6th grade students).

Due to the school's difficult conditions, there is no TV system connected to each class to both teach in person and teach online, so the school has to assign teachers, organize separate online classes for F0, F1 students or combine F0 students with classes that are having to study online. For example, in class 8A, because the class has F0 students, all students in the class have to study online. At the same time, there are 3 F0 students from classes 8B, 8C and many F1 students in other classes also studying together.

During the epidemic, teachers have to teach both in-person and online. Photo: MH

Teacher Nguyen Thi Le Hang - Principal of Vinh Tan Secondary School said: Organizing both in-person and online teaching between many grades causes the school to encounter some difficulties and teachers also have to make more efforts than normal teaching, many teachers will have to teach extra lessons.

In the immediate future, for each subject, the school will assign a teacher to teach online according to the off-campus schedule.

At the same time, the school still maintains the updating of online lectures on the learning materials system of online learning platforms. After F0 and F1 students return to school, subject teachers must spend time reviewing and tutoring them on basic knowledge so that they can make up for their knowledge in time.

The entire Vinh city has over 900 F0 students at this point, a significant increase from the 56 students on the first day of school. Currently, in addition to students from grades 1 to 6 who have switched to online learning, the city is still organizing in-person teaching for all other levels. However, due to the large number of F0 students, the number of classes that have to be switched to online is quite large. Not to mention, maintaining classes will also fluctuate from day to day.

At Cua Nam Secondary School, this morning, the parents of the class organized a test for all students and discovered 1 F0 and immediately after that, the school had to switch the class to online learning. Currently, the whole school has 19 classes but the number of classes maintaining direct learning is only 7 and maintaining normal teaching for all classes in two forms is quite a challenge. During the teaching organization process, the school also had to adjust the regular teaching schedule between classes.

Online teaching hours of a teacher at Vinh Tan Secondary School - Vinh city. Photo: MH

Sharing this, teacher Ho Thanh An - Principal of the school said: In the immediate future, if a class has F0, we will temporarily suspend students from school. After 3 days, in addition to F1 students, F0 will continue to be quarantined at home, the classes will organize tests for students and if their health is normal, we will reorganize for them to study in person.

Students only return to school when safety is guaranteed.

Nghe An province currently has more than 2,700 students and nearly 270 F0 teachers and the number may continue to increase in the coming time. In the past time, in the process of implementing teaching and learning organization, depending on each specific situation, each locality has its own direction.

Online teaching will only be resumed when students are safe. Photo: MH

In Anh Son district, Mr. Doan Van Thanh - Head of the district's Department of Education and Training said: Up to this point, we have detected 180 F0 in schools and 27 classes have switched to studying.onlineDuring the direction process, we require schools to follow the actual situation and instructions from local health facilities and students can return to school after 3 days, 7 days or even longer if classes continue to have F0 cases in schools.

To avoid confusion for schools and localities during the implementation process, the Department of Education and Training together with the Department of Health have also issued inter-sectoral guidelines on Covid-19 epidemic prevention at educational institutions in the province. Thereby, the aim is to control the risk of infection, detect infected cases early, isolate and promptly contain the spread in educational institutions.

Along with that, the two sectors have also proposed three handling options when there is a suspected case of infection, when an infection is detected in an educational institution, or when there is an infection outside an educational institution.

Online lessons during the pandemic when teachers have to be quarantined. Photo: MH

Through the discussion, Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training also said: The plans when F0 cases appear have been built quite tightly. In addition, we also directed schools to base on test results and local health agencies to respond flexibly in each situation.

In fact, there are classes that may have to be quarantined and switched to online learning for 2 weeks, but there may also be classes that only last 3-7 days. However, regardless of the plan, students' return to school will only be carried out when absolute safety is guaranteed for both students and teachers.