Thailand’s Education Ministry intends to reopen schools by November, in time for the second semester of the 2021 academic year.
Ministry spokesperson Kesthip Supawanich said postponing or suspending the reopening of schools will affect the development of children and it would not be fair to get students stressed and affected in the long term.
The ministry has been calling on schools to avoid overburdening students with too much homework and for teachers to stop covering too much of the curriculum in their classes.
She said the ministry has been working with the Department of Health and Department of Mental Health to find ways to ease the stress of students, teachers and parents.
The departments have collected information on different teaching methods to be distributed among teachers, while a survey of 35,000 schools found a myriad of teaching methods, ranging from online and on-demand classes to teaching via television or radio, in person and on site.
According to Ms. Kesthip, the authorities have also launched a “Sandbox Safety Zone in School” project, under which students can attend classes safely in school by limiting the entry of people and conducting frequent rapid antigen tests. Many schools have been employing this method since August.
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