The Department of Education and Training of Hanoi has required local schools to hold short and solemn opening ceremonies for the new school year to both create a jubilant atmosphere for students and ensure observance of epidemic control measures.

Under the department’s document 2703/SGDDT-VP, the opening ceremony for the 2020-2021 academic year will be held across all schools in the city in the form of in-person in the morning of September 5.

Schools are instructed to decide the number of students attending the ceremony in the schoolyard based on their infrastructure in order to ensure physical distancing. Other students will participate in the event from their classrooms. No rehearsal of ceremony or parade of new students will be held.

The department emphasized that any school staff, student or parent with symptoms such as coughing, fever or breathing difficulty should not be present at the ceremony. Parents are urged not to enter schools or gather at the school gate.

After the ceremony, students will receive instructions on prevention of disease, accident and injury.   

According to the department’s director Chu Xuan Dung, Hanoi has 2,794 schools with more than 2.1 million students.