Schools in Hanoi and Da Nang came alive on Monday as respective 12th and first graders returned to in-person classes after a seven-month hiatus.

Nearly 350 12th graders returned to Viet Duc High School in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi on Monday morning.

According to the original plan, all high school students from COVID-19 low- and medium-risk areas were to return to school on Monday, but a sudden resurgence caused authorities to change their mind, allowing only 12th-grade students to go back to in-person classes.

Beside standard prevention measures, classes are also staggered, with half the students attending on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the rest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to Nguyen Boi Quynh, principal of Viet Duc High School.

The school also put up a board for students to share their feelings on their return.

Most students said they were happy, anxious, and eager, but some expressed their sadness and bewilderment at their comeback.

In Da Nang, the number of first-grade students back in schools on Monday far outpaced expectations.

Truong Thi Nha Truc, principal of Phu Dong Elementary School in Hai Chau District, said a previous survey of parents showed more than 70 percent of them did not agree to send their children back to school. 

“But it was very surprising that more than 85 percent of the children went to school today,” Truc said.

Authorities in Hanoi and Da Nang had required all students to stay home and switch to remote learning since May 4 due to a serious COVID-19 outbreak.

Hanoi has documented more than 13,600 COVID-19 infections while Da Nang has logged over 6,600 cases since the fourth virus wave hit Vietnam on April 27.

Over 6.7 million out of eight million people of the Vietnamese capital city have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, with more than 5.5 million of them fully vaccinated, according to the national COVID-19 vaccination portal.

The respective figures in the central coastal city of nearly 1.2 million people are approximately 954,000 and over 864,000.

Both cities are carrying out vaccinations against COVID-19 for local children aged 12 to 17 until the end of the first quarter of 2022, with those from 16 to 17 years old getting the shots first.

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