Decision on tuition centres, school suraus tomorrow

PUTRAJAYA: The special ministerial meeting tomorrow (Friday) will see the Education Minister discuss several other issues, such as permitting private tuition centres to resume operations, said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said another issue which will likely be raised is whether or not suraus in schools will be allowed to operate again as well.

“The Education Minister will discuss these matters in light of students returning to school for their studies. A decision is expected to be made on Friday itself,” Ismail Sabri said during his thrice-weekly press conference.

Form Five and Form Six secondary school students returned to their classes yesterday after over a quarter of a year on hiatus, as part of the precautionary measures of the movement control order (MCO) to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier on June 10, Education Minister Radzi Md Jidin was reported as saying that his ministry, the Health Ministry and the National Security Council are satisfied with the existing standard operating procedures (SOP) after several test runs were conducted at selected schools by government officials.

Presently, regular morning assemblies and sports activities are still not permitted. One classroom will only accommodate 20 students, with each desk arranged a metre from each other. Similar arrangements have also been made for the dormitories of boarding schools.

Another move by the government to reopen preschools and kindergartens on July 1 has since come under fire from the National Union of the Teaching Profession, with its president Aminudin Awang urging for postponement as most preschools and kindergartens are unprepared to resume operations since they face constraints in implementing the government’s SOPs.