Many schools in the mountainous areas in the central region have closed as the temperature dropped to 4 degrees.

Fire set up in the schoolyard in Quang Nam Province

Nguyen Anh Tuan, head of Tay Giang District Department of Education and Training, Quang Nam Province, said they let 350 pupils in Ch'Om and Ga Ri communes stay home. "Because of cold weather and inadequate infrastructure, we decided to let the pupils stay home for a week until the weather is warmer," he said.

In the past days, teachers at nursery schools in Tam Thanh Commune, Quan Son District, have to set up a fire in the schoolyard to keep 389 pupils warm. About 252 of the pupils have to stay in deteriorated bamboo rooms set up by the locals and parents.

Head of Tam Thanh Commune Nursery School Ha Thi Tiep said, "The temperatures are around 10 to 13 degrees. The pupils lack socks, shoes, warm clothes and blankets. When it's too cold, we let pupils stay home."

Frost blankets a tree in Ky Son District, Nghe An Province on December 21

Quan Son District authorities said they were renovating the main section of Tam Thanh Commune Nursery School with VND7bn fund from the state budget. However, the main section can shelter 180 pupils.

On December 21, Chief of the office of Nghe An Province's Ky Son District People's Committee Phan Sy Thang said that frost had appeared in many areas at night and early morning, and the temperature dropped to zero.  

Some vehicles parked near Vietnam-Laos border in Buoc Mu Village could not start their engines. It is worried that the weather this year might be the same as the weather pattern in early 2016. On January 24, 2016, the temperature dropped to minus 8 degrees, causing troubles for the locals with heavy snow.

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