Cold keeps northern Vietnam students at home

Current policies issued by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training state that primary schools would switch to online studying if temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius, while middle schools would follow suit once temperatures drop below 7. The temperature of the day would be announced by the national broadcaster, it added.

On Monday, temperatures in Hanoi at around 6 a.m. were recorded at around 8.8 degrees, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. It means over 455,000 students currently attending in-person classes in the capital’s 18 outskirt districts are allowed to stay home.

Students of grade 1-6 in Hanoi’s inner districts are still studying online as they have been doing for months due to Covid fears.

Besides allowing students to stay home during cold weather, the Hanoi education department also requested schools not to make students wear uniforms or perform activities outside in the cold.

In Bac Ninh, 350,000 kindergartners and 135,000 primary school students will study online from Feb. 21 to 25 due to the cold too. Temperatures in Bac Ninh at 6 a.m. Monday stood at around 8.2 degrees, according to the weather forecast center.

In Ha Tinh in north central Vietnam, several districts recorded temperatures of 9-9.5 degrees on Monday, meaning over 146,000 kindergartners and primary school students stayed home.

In mountainous regions of the north, over 120,000 kindergartners and primary school students in Lang Son Province, plus 30,000 middle school students, also stayed home Monday due to the cold.

The Mau Son area of Lang Son has recorded the lowest temperatures of all Vietnamese regions on Monday at minus 0.8 degrees. Downtown areas fared a little better at 5.7 degrees.

Other localities like Cao Bang, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Ha Nam and Nam Dinh have also instructed schools to follow weather news and let students stay home once temperatures drop.

Since Feb. 18, a mass of cold air combined with rains have seen temperatures plunge in northern Vietnam during the coldest spell ever this winter. Temperatures in certain regions dropped below zero, causing frost to cover the trees and ground.