The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has turned green light to localities to hold online ceremonies for new school year 2020-2021 amid complicated evolution of COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry has devised different scenarios for the opening ceremony of the academic year (September 5), including the online option, said Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Head of the ministry’s Department of Secondary Education.

Specifically, localities which are placed under social distancing rules must consider safety of pupils and teachers as the top priority.

Da Nang city is the epicenter of the country’s Coronavirus outbreak, with 344 cases confirmed since July 25 while its neighboring province of Quang Nam is the second hardest locality, recording 91 cases. It is highly likely that the new school year opening ceremony will be held online in both localities.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, students at pre-education and general education establishments will be back to schools on September 5 at the earliest and the opening ceremonies to be organized on September 5.

The first semester will conclude before January 16, while the second before May 25. The academic year is to wrap up before May 31.

Danang waives first semester school fees

Students at public schools in Danang City will not have to pay tuition fees for the first four months of the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year to ease the burden posed by Covid-19.

Danang Department of Education and Training said on August 18 that students in public nursery, secondary and high schools will be exempted from paying tuition fees in accordance with the decision of the city people's council.

Primary schoolers have already been exempted from paying tuition.

Students in the nursery, primary, secondary and high schools in the private system will be given financial support that is an equivalent of the public school's tuition fee from September to December.

Students in foreign-invested schools are not supported.

The department also asked public schools who have already collected tuition for the first four months of the school year to return the money./. VGP