Ho Chi Minh city extends school closure by another two weeks

Vietnam’s Ho Cho Minh city has decided to keep 12th grade students away from school until at least March 8 and younger students until March 15.  

The southern metropolis was the last in Vietnam to update its school closure plan, while the other 62 cities and provinces had announced Friday to let all students from preschools to secondary schools stay home for another one or two weeks. VNExpress, a local media reports.

Most cities and provinces are going to send high schoolers or 12th graders back to school on Monday, while only some, including Hanoi, gave them another week off.

Related: Hanoi extends school closure until March 8 to prevent coronavirus outbreak

High school students and especially 12th graders have more pressure to keep up with their study plans as they have a high school graduation exam in summer. The exam was held in June in previous year but has been rescheduled for July this year.

The school closure extension came amid complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, now affecting 60 countries and territories and having claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

As the biggest city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city has nearly two million students from kindergarten to continuing education and vocational training colleges.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam told at a recent government meeting that “students should return to school only when safety is ensured.”

Earlier, Vietnamese cities and provinces had allowed their students to stay away from classes until the end of February, instead of going back to school on February 3 after the Lunar New Year break. Last week, HCMC authorities proposed that the government extend the school closure until the end of March.

But no government decision was made and each locality has come up with their own plans.

Reporting by Manh Tung @ VNExpress