Most Thai schools are reopening, both fully and partially on Monday (November 1st), and the Thai Ministry of Education has rolled out a set of guidelines to be followed by schools, their staff and students if they are to resume on-site classes or hybrid on-site/online teaching.
To open, all schools must pass the “Thai Stop COVID Plus” (TSC+) assessment and report follow-up assessments via the MOECOVID platform.
For schools in the COVID-19 “dark red” and “red” provinces, 85% of all the teachers and staff at a school must be inoculated with at least two doses of vaccine while, in the other lower risk provinces, at least 85% of teachers and other school personnel must have received at least one dose.
Teachers and other staff in “dark red” provinces will undergo frequent heath assessments.
As for students in both “dark red” and low risk provinces, there is no requirement for vaccinations, but officials will try to convince them or their parents to allow them to be vaccinated for their own safety and for that of the parents.
There are, however, other regulations that students are required to follow while they are at school, such as wearing face masks all the time, maintaining social distancing and regular washing of hands with sanitiser.
Each classroom will contain no more than 25 students, with all students to be seated 1.5 metres apart. If any student is found to be infected during daily health assessments, they will be separated in isolation facilities, to be set up in each school,and their classroom will be closed for three days for disinfection.
Mingling by students from different classes is prohibited and students will be under the close watch of teachers. A special screening area should be set aside at each school for goods deliveries or where parents can wait for their children.
A school must be cleaned regularly, especially points of contact and air conditioners.
Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong said the guidelines are in line with the “sandbox” safety zone in schoolsprinciple, the DMHT-RC basic and other supplementary safety measures.
She stressed the need for schools to adhere strictly to “Thai Stop COVID Plus” assessments.
The minister disclosed that over 10,000 schools have applied for permission to reopen for the second semester on Monday with 100% on-site or hybrid teaching.
The provincial communicable disease control committees in some provinces, however, prefer on-site classes to resume on November 15th instead, she said, adding that the Office of the Basic Education Commission is compiling the list of all the schools wishing to reopen.
