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HCM CITY — Most schools in HCM City are now ready to accept students back, and are making vital preparations to reopen after the months-long closure due to COVID-19.

They are cleaning and rearranging classrooms, furniture and teaching tools to ensure children’s safety though the city has not yet decided on the exact date of reopening due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.

Lê Hoài Nam, deputy director of the Department of Education and Training, said his department has set safety criteria for schools.

All have been told to prepare for students’ return to classes but also have plans for teaching online if the pandemic resurges.

Many schools were used as COVID treatment and quarantine facilities and so needed to be thoroughly disinfected and cleaned before reopening.

Đặng Đình Quý, vice principal of Nguyễn Thái Bình High School in Tân Bình District, told Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper that his school has completed preparations for classrooms and equipment, and more than 95 per cent of its students have been vaccinated.

“I hope the students stay healthy, and always strictly comply with the 5K regulations when they return to school.”

The school’s medical worker, Hán Hồng Thái, said she and teachers helped vaccinate the school’s students, and was happy teachers, staff and students could reunite after more than five months.

“There were radiant smiles behind the masks.”

Teachers and students at Võ Văn Kiệt High School in District 8 are also very eager to return to classes.

Nguyễn Ngọc Gia Huy, an 11th grade student at the school, said he and his classmates have got the first dose of a vaccine and would get the second soon, and so are not worried about returning to class.

All classrooms at Trường Thạnh Secondary School in Thủ Đức city have been cleaned carefully for reopening after months of serving as a quarantine facility.

An eighth-grade student, Đào Xuân Vinh, said he has been studying online for the past two months.

“I’m looking forward to the first day back at school so that I can meet my teachers and classmates again.”

In recent days staff of the Bình Chiểu Secondary School in Thủ Đức have repaired school facilities, planted saplings and placed flowerpots to be ready to welcome students back.

Preparations are also under way at many primary schools and kindergartens.

Trần Văn Vân Primary School in Thủ Đức has cleaned classrooms, added books to the library and installed a basin for washing hands.

Officials, teachers and employees cleaned the campus and disinfected all utensils and toys.

Tuổi Thơ Kindergarten in District 1 has repaired students’ lockers, decorated classrooms and cleaned and disinfected them and teaching tools and toys.

Preschools have not been able to teach online and were instead told to create video lessons and other teaching methods and send to parents to help their children learn at home.

Many private preschools have had to close down after being bankrupted due to the pandemic. —