All schools adhere to SOP – director

KOTA KINABALU: The Education Department here wants to ensure schools that reopened yesterday adhere strictly to the standard operating procedures (SOP), including the observance of social distancing amongst students.

Speaking to the media yesterday, the department's director, Dr Misterine Radin said that it is imperative that schools are not crowded and there is strict adherence to social distance protocol to avoid the spread of Covid-19 at schools.

“We don't want a school cluster for Covid-19,” she said when visiting KK High School near here yesterday to observe the implementation of SOP as well as to monitor the adherence level among the students.

“What I can say is that schools are ready to accept students but there is a need to inculcate habits such as washing their hands frequently and keeping a safe distance from their peers,” she said.

She added that from her observation yesterday, she could see that students had not fully grasped the importance of washing their hands frequently.

She also told reporters that she had dispatched her officers to schools at all 24 districts in Sabah to ensure strict adherence to the SOP set.

“So far all schools are adhering,” she said.

KK High School Form Five student, Joshue Edgard shared that he encountered a long list of changes in the school yesterday.

“There is a different feel… nevertheless, students must get used to this SOP,” he said.

He added that during the long holidays, he spent his time doing revision, cooking and painting.

His classmate, Muhd Syazwan is elated to return to school, telling members of the media that he preferred studying in school to studying at home.

“There are too much distractions at home siblings and the lure of playing video games on the computer,” he said.

He also said that he agreed with the decision to postpone the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia to February next year.

“We still have a lot to catch up in our studies,” he said.

Among the changes at KK High school includes increasing the number of classes for Form Five students (involving 362 students) from nine classes in the past to 16 classes, while the number of classes for Form Six students are increased from three to six classes.

Form 5 students of SMK Pantai Labuan seen studying in their class wearing face shields and masks in compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the National Security Council on the first day of school reopening yesterday. Sabah Education Director Dr Misterine Radin said her officers found that schools throughout Sabah had adhered to the SOP, yesterday.