November 1, in addition to being the first day of Thailand’s reopening to international visitors, also marks the nationwide commencement of the new school term. Some 12,000 schools have resumed on-site classes, albeit under strict COVID-19 prevention measures.
Education Minister Treenuch Thienthong inspected the readiness of Samut Sakhon Wittayalai School in holding its first day of on-site classes, at the start of the new school term today (1 Nov).
Samut Sakhon Wittayalai School has not held on-site classes since the COVID-19 outbreak at the main shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province last year. The school is now having each student come in for classes on a one-week-on, one-week-off basis in order to keep the number of students in the physical classes at half of the usual size. Students join the classes online during their ‘off’ weeks. Distancing and other disease control measures are implemented, with ATK Covid tests being administered to all students who were returning to school for the new school term. 95% of teachers and 86% of students at the school have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The education minister reiterated her emphasis on measures such as social distancing, mask-wearing, hand sanitizing, and ATK tests. She said random ATK tests will be carried out on 10% of students who come for on-site classes each week. Schools have also been asked to make Covid incident response plans, to provide another layer of safety.
In Uthai Thani province, a lively atmosphere was seen on the first day of on-site class resumption. Parents were dropping off their children at the school gate in the morning, where teachers were present to guide the pupils through the disease screening procedure and into the school. Police officers were on hand to facilitate traffic flow around the school. (NNT)
 |
 |
 |
