Pandemic enforces remote learning in 24 of Vietnam's 63 localities

Data from the Ministry of Education and Training showed Sunday that 20 out of the 25 localities where schools have been reopened are in the north, with the rest in the north-central region and two in the Central Highlands.

Hanoi and Hung Yen are the only northern localities to have students studying entirely online along with 22 other localities, most of which are in the south, including Ho Chi Minh City, epicenter of the ongoing wave.

The education sectors in the remaining 13 localities are organizing both online and face-to-face classes depending on the pandemic situation in each area.

Over the past two years, about 22 million students nationwide have experienced different class interruptions and had to switch to online learning due to the impacts of the pandemic.

The 2021-2022 school year arrived at a time when Vietnam got hit hardest by the fourth Covid wave, which emerged in late April and has so far been responsible for more than 682,600 infections and over 17,000 fatalities.

The Ministry of Education and Training said last week around 7.35 million students are studying online in localities imposing social distancing orders.

However, around 1.5 million students don't have sufficient access to online schooling, while lessons provided through televisions also met with challenges regarding equipment and signals, said Minister Nguyen Kim Son.

For now, a program to call on citizens and businesses to support students, especially those in coronavirus-hit areas and those who lack the resources to study online, has been launched by the education ministry and Ministry of Information and Communication.

The program is expected to minimize the negative impacts of the pandemic on the education field and alleviate challenges for students to learn.