Tran Thi Tuyen, 44, a Vietnamese citizen living in Cambodian Pray Veng Province, teach her children at a quarantine site in Hong Ngu District, Dong Thap Province. — Photo baodongthap.vn

The ninth-grade student at Thuong Lac Secondary School in Hong Ngu District, the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, is staying in a camp in Hong Ngu District.

"I have been isolated for four days. There are only 10 days left before I can go to school. I will be very happy because I can meet my teachers and friends," Trang told Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper.

Trang is one of many Vietnamese in Cambodia studying in Dong Thap's public schools that face many obstacles due to the pandemic. 

Dong Thap has a 50km-long border with Pray Veng Province.

Prior to the pandemic, many Vietnamese students in Cambodia could go to school in Vietnam and then return to their homes in Cambodia on the same day.

Due to the complex developments of COVID-19, Dong Thap is tightening the management of the border.

For months, anyone crossing the border from Cambodia to Vietnam has been required to undergo 14 days of centralised quarantine.

Schools only accept students to resume study when they finish the quarantine period, according to the newspaper.

During studying, they must stay in Vietnam until the Government changes rules over daily border crossings for people in border areas.

Pandemic makes returning to Vietnam to study tough for Vietnamese in CambodiaThai Trong Nhan (second right, first row) with other students at a class in Thuong Lac Secondary School, Hong Ngu District. — Photo baodongthap.vn

Thai Trong Nhan, an eighth-grade student studying in Thuong Lac Secondary School, Hong Ngu District, said for many months, he has not been able to go home in Cambodia due to COVID-19 pandemic. He has to stay at his grandmother's house in Tan Hoi Commune, Hong Ngu Township to go to school.

According to Huynh Van Tai, vice chairman of Hong Ngu District People's Committee, the district has 201 students who are Vietnamese citizens living in Cambodia. About 140 students joined classes.

The remaining students are still in Cambodia. Some of the students' family don't want their children to go to school because they don't want to be quarantined, Tai said.

Many students have missed the start of the new school year.

Primary school students are still young and need the care of their relatives, so they can't stay in quarantine site alone.

Meanwhile, many students have difficult circumstances. Their parents have to work far from home to earn a living so they can't quit their jobs to follow their children to Vietnam.

"Both Vietnamese and Vietnamese students abroad enjoy the same policies of the school," Ho Van Thuong, vice-rector of Dinh Ba Primary School in Tan Hong District, told Dong Thap online newspaper.

There are 38 Vietnamese students that live in Cambodia studying at the school.

On September 24, 24 children entered school. These students live with their relatives in Tan Hong District.

Before the 2020-21 academic year, the provincial Department of Education and Training issued a request to agencies and units to ensure the education of Vietnamese students living Cambodia while they are studying in Vietnam.

Vietnamese agencies also contacted Cambodian agencies to encourage students in Cambodia to return to Vietnam and to be put under quarantine according to regulations and then attend classes.

Colonel Nguyen Quang Dinh, deputy commander of the Border Guard Command, said students and their relatives who want to stay at the border guard station to study in local schools need to register with the Border Guard Command to have plans for preparing accommodation.

During their quarantine, secondary school students take part in online classes and receive documents from their teachers, said Huynh Thanh Hung, deputy director of the Department of Education and Training.

Vietnamese students abroad who enrol in the school year late will receive their teachers' support so they can keep up with the programme, he said.

As of September 22, there were 271 Vietnamese students who live abroad studying at schools in the Hong Ngu and Tan Hong districts and Hong Ngu Township.

Of which, 175 students went to school and their health is stable.

The schools contacted students by phone to encourage them to go to school, but most of their families did not want to be under quarantine, Hung said.  VNS

Vietnam Airlines conducts first routine international flight since pandemic

For the first time in six months, Vietnam Airlines' first routine international commercial flight took off from Hanoi on September 19 morning, heading to Japan.

People entering Vietnam from Cambodia have to make medical declarations

All people who enter Vietnam from Cambodia are required to fill in medical declaration forms amid complicated developments of the acute respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).