‘School closure only upon Health office advice’
TASEK GELUGOR: The Education Ministry will close schools only following advice from the district Health office after conducting a risk assessment.
Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Md Jidin said subsequently, schools with Covid-19 cases would be closed only when the infections forced a large number of teachers to be quarantined and affected the efficiency of school operations.
“If they believe there is a need to shut floors or buildings of the school, they will be shut. Or if there is a need to close the school, it will be closed.
“On the ministry’s part, we will look at the operations aspects. If most of the teaching staff are under quarantine, which can affect the efficiency of the school’s operations, we will assess whether the school’s operations can proceed or have to be postponed.”
He said this at the handing over of keys for SMK Tasek Gelugor and the handing over of maintenance funds for schools here yesterday.
Recently, the Penang government had urged that drastic action be taken with regard to schools with Covid-19 infections.
Meanwhile, Radzi urged school teachers to register for the Covid19 vaccine via the MySejahtera app since they were among the critical groups to be vaccinated.
Earlier, Radzi said the ministry would relook at the list of schools eligible for maintenance funds and repair to ensure priority was given to those in need.
“We have about 10,000 schools. We need to prioritise those really in need.”
At the event, some 31 schools received allocations of between RM20,000 and RM200,000 for maintenance and repair.
Present were Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Shabudin Yahaya and Education director-general Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim.