Nghe An: Ensuring safety for students returning to school after Tet

Especially when the epidemic in the whole province is still very complicated and the number of cases still appears in many localities during the Lunar New Year.

Create safe green areas for schools

Huu Khuong - Tuong Duong Ethnic Minority Secondary School is located in the oasis of Ban Ve hydroelectric reservoir. Due to its unique geographical location, compared to many other localities, the number of people passing through Huu Khuong during Tet is not much. However, during the Lunar New Year, Huu Khuong has about 200 citizens who are children of the commune who work in other places and return to celebrate Tet, posing many potential risks of disease.

Spraying disinfectants on the dormitory area at Chieu Luu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities - Ky Son. Photo: My Ha

These are also dangers for schools, especially for the environment of a boarding school with 183/208 students living and eating at school. To ensure the safety of students, before returning home for Tet, the school's board of directors required homeroom teachers to clearly understand the situation of each student, and students who have someone coming from far away must report to the class and the school. During the Tet holidays, students are required to strictly follow the 5K regulations, limit going out far and keep a safe distance in crowded places. Returning to school after Tet, the school has also planned to check the health of students.

Sharing about this, teacher Nguyen Duc Son - Principal of Huu Khuong Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities said: Huu Khuong commune has 7 villages, of which 6 villages have students staying at the school, the rate of boarding students accounts for more than 90%. According to the industry's plan, on February 7, students will return to school, but at our school, they will return to school 1 day later. Before that, teachers will arrive earlier to clean the school and prepare conditions to welcome students back to school. The school has also asked for the opinion of the department and the commune to conduct a Covid-19 pooled sample test for all students in each separate village to screen for cases of Covid-19 infection.

After school starts, the school will implement a bubble school model in the dormitory to limit contact between students and the outside environment, ensuring school safety.

Spraying disinfectants on the dormitory area at Chieu Luu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities - Ky Son. Photo: My Ha

After nearly two months of switching to online learning, it is expected that early next week, more than 400 students of Chieu Luu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities - Ky Son will officially return to school to study in person. This is also good news for all teachers and students of the school after a long time fighting the epidemic, including 41 students of the school infected with Covid-19.

At this time, Chieu Luu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities is still being used as a treatment facility for F0 patients in Ky Son district and some neighboring areas, and according to the plan, the last patient will be discharged from the hospital on February 7. For the above reason, instead of the entire school returning to school according to the schedule of the Department of Education and Training, Chieu Luu students will return to school a week later. At the same time, disinfection work and preparation of safety plans will also be given more attention to ensure absolute safety for the school.

Sharing about this, teacher Nguyen Van Tam, the school's principal, added: In the coming days, our school will have the medical team spray disinfectant on the entire school campus as well as the dormitory area for teachers and students. After the cleaning work is completed, the school will proceed to clean and prepare the conditions to welcome students back to school. According to the plan, teachers in epidemic areas will be tested for Covid-19, students will have their temperature taken and health checked. The school will also maintain this work regularly to avoid the risk of spreading the disease and maintain a "green zone" in the school, minimizing contact between students in the dormitory area and people from outside and other places.

Chieu Luu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities was requisitioned as a field hospital. Photo: My Ha

Organize for students across the province to return to school

This is the policy of the Ministry of Education and Training for the entire education sector on allowing students to return to school after Tet in the context that the epidemic in many localities has been controlled and the vaccination rate of students in schools has reached over 90% for those aged 12 and over.

In Nghe An, up to now, apart from a few schools with students who are F0 patients and have to temporarily close, most students in 21/21 districts and cities have gone to school in person since before Tet. The rest, only preschool students in Vinh city and Quynh Luu district are still temporarily not going to school. However, after Tet, following the plan of the Department of Education and Training, these localities have also urgently prepared plans to welcome preschool students back to school. This is also in line with the wishes of many parents and teachers because this level of education has been closed for more than 8 months due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Parent Le Thanh Binh - Hung Binh Ward (Vinh City) said: Our family has two children in preschool age, one of whom is 5 years old and is preparing to enter first grade. In fact, recently, due to the school being closed for too long, in addition to having to find a group of children to send my child to, my family also had to find a class to equip him with the necessary knowledge to prepare for primary school. This is both costly and ineffective compared to the child studying in class.

Measuring body temperature for students in Vinh city when returning to school. Photo: My Ha

To prepare for the return of preschool students to school, before Tet, Vinh City People's Committee also issued a document directing the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Health and related units to prepare the necessary conditions. Accordingly, the Department of Education and Training needs to direct schools to regularly inspect and urge strict implementation of epidemic prevention work, strengthen inspection of child care tasks and regularly grasp the epidemic situation in the area to promptly advise the Steering Committee.Covid-19 preventionTake measures to prevent and contain, and handle cases as soon as infected people appear in schools. At the same time, develop scientific teaching and learning plans that are appropriate to the epidemic situation.

Regarding the organization of welcoming preschool children, the city also requested wards and communes to direct health stations to carry out disinfection spraying and disinfection at preschools. Coordinate with forces to organize the flow of parents and children before entering and leaving school to avoid large gatherings.

Because preschool is the youngest level of education, to ensure safety, Mr. Le Truong Son - Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City also said: All preschool students in Vinh City will return to school on February 14, 1 week later than the school opening plan after Tet so that schools can prepare well. Before students go to school, in addition to epidemic prevention measures, we also ask parents to coordinate to prepare their children's psychology when going to school, closely coordinate with the school in monitoring and tracking their health status and promptly inform the school if children have unusual symptoms such as fever, cough, difficulty breathing, fatigue or their relatives have close contact with F0 cases.

Hong Son Primary School checks students' temperature on the first day back to school. Photo: My Ha

The fact that students in the province will return to school after Tet is also a positive signal for the Nghe An Education sector so that the entire sector can continue to successfully carry out the tasks of the school year and create favorable conditions for students at all levels to study in the best conditions. Before, during and after Tet, the Education and Training sector has also issued many guiding documents to prepare well for welcoming students back to school to both do a good job of disease prevention and teaching well in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic.