Teachers and staff at a high school in Saigon's District 10 spent Saturday cleaning classrooms ahead of students’ return to classes on Monday. 

In fact, they have been cleaning Nguyen Du High School regularly to ensure dust and dirt do not accumulate. The city administration announced that over 150,000 million students would resume school on Monday after a three-and-a-half month break.

Thanh Van, a staff member, cleans a board. Schools will get back students in a staggered manner. Over 87,000 ninth graders who are about to take high school entrance exams and over 63,000 12th graders who need to take their high school graduation exams will return on Monday and start normal classes the next day. Students in fourth to eighth grades and 10th and 11th grades will return on May 8 and start classes on the 11th. Those in first to third grades will attend school on May 11 and start classes the next day.

Van explained to VnExpress that the school chose to clean regularly rather than wait until the last minute to do so.

In the school library, Nguyen Tan Cuong, a teacher, cleans books and magazines which have not been touched for months.

Nguyen Thi Kim Huong, the laboratory manager, cleans the door of her workplace. The labs and IT rooms were also cleaned every week, she said.

The corridors being cleaned.

Pham Van Mua, a worker, prunes trees in the school yards for the first time in months.

On April 29 local medical workers disinfected every part of the school, including corridors, classrooms and door knobs.

A teacher gets the classroom signs from the storage.

Plastic stools used during the weekly flag salute ceremony also get a dusting. The school said the ceremony on May 4 would be held in classrooms to avoid congregating.

"I have worked for 35 years and never seen the school without students for such a long period of time," a teacher said.

Huynh Thanh Phu, the principal, said the school has bought thermometers and would also instruct students to stay 1.8 meters from each other, wear masks and use personal water bottles.

"After students come back, we will spend three or four weeks revising what they have learned, and then we will prepare for the exams."