Almost fifth of all school students staying at home due to Covid: education ministry

As of Monday 49 localities have reopened kindergartens, enabling 1.8 million children to return, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

But 14 others have yet to do so, including Hanoi, it added.

Around 785,000 primary school students also remain at home, including a large proportion who have not been to school since the beginning of the academic year last September.

Certain localities like Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho provinces allowed students to return to school for a while before again shutting down as Covid incidence surged.

Even middle school students in Phu Tho, Lao Cai and Vinh Phuc provinces and 6th graders in Hanoi’s 12 inner districts have had to switch to studying online.

Lao Cai has high school students studying online.

Besides, hundreds of thousands of students also remained home on Monday due to cold weather. Primary school students stay at home when temperatures fall below 10 degrees Celsius, and middle school students follow suit at below 7 degrees.

The country recorded the highest ever number of daily infections last week of around 45,000. Several schools reported infection among staff, teachers and students.