Primary students have their dinner at class
Teacher Vu Thi Hong An at Tuoi Tre 7 Kindergarten in District 3 coped with stress last week as Covid-19 infection cases soared in the school, teachers had to regularly update students' health status. The teacher recalled before, 22-30 students had been present at each class, now just over 10 students come to class every day. Instead of group activities as before, students now perform individual activities or activities in small groups to ensure the regulations on distance.
The class has 21 students but just parents of 14 small children registered their children to return to school from February 14, but in reality, 10-12 students come to class every day. Every day teachers divide tools and toys into two groups, alternately half for students to play in class, the other half to disinfect in the schoolyard, said this teacher.
Particularly for children from 18-36 months, after a long break from school due to the influence of the Covid-19 epidemic, teachers have to work hard to retrain the children each communication skill and self-service. Ms. Vu Do Thuy Hien, Principal of Tuoi Tre 7 Kindergarten School, said that many children are timid after a long break and they are not used to eating and napping in class, so teachers have to train them.
At the primary level, Ms. Hoang Thuy Lan Anh, homeroom teacher of class 4/7 at Phan Dinh Phung Primary School in District 3 expressed that at the moment, seven students at the class are infected with the coronavirus and many of the students who are close contacts are absent from the school.
Teacher Lan Anh and other teaching staff fretted that how to protect herself from Covid-19. Because if a teacher is infected, it will affect all students in many classes and students must switch to online learning.
Not only preschool and primary school, teachers at both high school and junior high schools are also overloaded because they have to constantly switch between two forms of face-to-face and online teaching. An English teacher at a high school in District 3 said that a high school teacher teaches many classes. Therefore, when a class reported an infection case, teachers’ timetables will change constantly.
For instance, the teacher said that she taught all eight classes, but she divided them equally into two grades. Therefore, after finishing teaching tenth graders, she must carry a laptop, textbook, and CD to the school library to find a quiet place to teach a class of twelve graders online because the class has reported many infection cases.
In order to reduce difficulties for teachers, last week, Tan Phong High School in District 7 installed two more internet lines in addition to six existing ones to ensure wifi coverage throughout the school, creating favorable conditions for teaching on the internet.
Minh Duc Secondary School in District 1 has invited retired teachers to solve the present shortage of teachers. Principal Tran Thuy An shared retired teachers are devoted to the teaching profession, they are willing to teach if permanent teachers contracted the virus.
Schools proposed more preferential policies for teachers including allowances for overtime work, support of teaching equipment.
