HCMC to send another 680,000 students back to school

Seventh, 8th, 10th, and 11th graders will get to return to school next Tuesday, three weeks after the city began implementing its plan to have students back in classes, starting with ninth and 12th graders.

Foreign language and informatics centers as well as life skills education institutions can also organize direct classes from Jan. 4 if they meet set criteria for pandemic prevention.

Students from 7th to 12th grades will take their first-semester examinations at school while those in third to fifth grades will do it online.

First and second graders will take their first semester exams after they get back to school. The city is yet to come up with a specific plan for those grades.

Around 150,000 9th and 12th graders in the city returned to school since Dec. 13.

As of Dec. 26, 60 Covid-19 cases had been detected in schools, including 51 students.

A survey by the municipal Education Department found 60-80 percent of parents in each school have agreed with the plan to have more secondary and high-school students back in school.

The city has vaccinated more than 709,000 children aged 12-17 with at least one dose and covered 85.5 percent of them with the second dose.