Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Localities are quicklyfinishing their preparations for the national high school graduation exam toimplement the dual goal – ensuring safety for candidates during the COVID-19pandemic and ensuring a serious and fair exam.

Asplanned, more than 1.1 million students nationwide will sit for the nationalhigh school graduation exam following the Ministry of Education and Training’sschedule.

Theexam will be held in two phases due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the first phasewill take place on July 7-8 for candidates who are not infected withSARS-CoV-2.

Candidateswho had direct contact with COVID-19 patients, called F1, and candidates whohad direct contact with F1 cases and those living in areas under lockdown willsit the exam in the second phase. The official time for the second phase examwill be set later by the ministry.

In Hanoi, head of Ba Dinh district’s Education andTraining Office Le Duc Thuan said the district alreadyarranged six back-up exam centres in case of incidents.

Thedistrict also set up medical teams with sufficient drugs and essentialequipment for the exam, he added.

Thedistrict's Exam Steering Committee had checked all of the back-up and officialexam centres to ensure careful preparations for the exam, including theimplementation of pandemic prevention, fire prevention and facilities for theexam, he said.

In Cau Giay district, preparations at 10exam centres were finished. The district authorities ordered kindergartens,primary schools and secondary schools, which were closed during the summerbreak due to the COVID-19 pandemic, near the exam centres to arrange waitingrooms for parents of candidates during the exam.

Thedistrict’s Health Centre has planned to spray disinfectant before the exam andafter each test to ensure safety for the candidates and participants. It hasalso made plans to deal with any teacher, candidate or staff at any exam centreshowing signs of fever, cough or shortness of breath.

Vietnam Electricity’s Cau Giay Branch has assigned twostaff members to be on duty at each exam centre to handle incidents. The branchhas also arranged two power sources – one main power source and one back-up –to ensure the smooth supply of power at the exam centres.

InThanh Oai district, vice chairman ofthe People’s Committee of the district Nguyen Khanh Binh saidthe district had arranged 42 medical staff for the exam. There would be 9-12medical staff at each exam centre.

Hanoi has more than 101,000 candidates sitting the exam,accounting for 10 percent of the total candidates in the country.

Thecity’s Education and Training Department has established 188 exam centres withthe participation of nearly 15,000 teachers for the exam.

Deputydirector of the department Pham Van Dai said parents needed tospent time encouraging their children to make them feel more comfortable beforethe exam.

Headsof all exam centres had to carefully prepare for incidents during the exam ifany, he added.

In Thai Nguyen province, director of theprovince’s Education and Training Department Pham Viet Duc said all exam centres wouldbe disinfected before July 6.

Theprovince had conducted real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests forall people participating on Thursday to ensure safety.

Da Nang City has also conducted RT-PCR tests for 12,700candidates and over 3,300 people participating.

InHo Chi Minh City, Le Hoai Nam, deputy director of thecity’s Education and Training Department said the city already arranged twoback-up exam centres for each official exam centre in case of incidents.

Thecity’s Health Department had worked closely with the education sector to screenand update the list of teachers and employees participating in the exam, hesaid.

Allcandidates and people participating in the exam had been tested for SARS-CoV-2,he said.

Theeducation department had developed scenarios to implement the exam andsubmitted them for approval by city administration, he said./.