Premature for ministry to announce school reopening for physical classes — Chai
KUCHING: The announcement by the Education Ministry (MoE) that schools are to reopen in stages for physical teaching and learning from Sept 1 is too premature, given the Covid-19 situation nationwide.
Association of Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division president Jonathan Chai, who said this, felt that such decision should be put off until the situation had shown some signs of stabilisation.
“Consider the current situation in our country, it’s indeed a laudable and sensible move for the MoE to extend the homebased teaching and learning (PdPR) till Aug 31.
“However, I think it’s too early for the MoE to call the shots by announcing that the schools would reopen for physical classes in stages starting Sept 1, given that the positive Covid-19 cases recorded daily nationwide have consistently exceeded 10,000 in the past few days,” he said.
Chai was commenting on the ministry’s announcement Saturday that PdPR would continue until Aug 31 at all government schools, government-aided schools, private schools and educational institutions registered with MoE.
However, this ruling is subject to change depending on the latest risk assessments by the Ministry of Health and National Security Council.
The MoE said it would inform further details on the reopening of schools for face-to-face learning at least one week prior.
Schools in Malaysia were ordered to close in early May after the Covid-19 situation had become worse, with some schools recording a numebr of positive cases. Primary school pupils had returned to school in March, while secondary school students resumed physical classes the following month.