527,911 students in Sabah start face-to-face classes without rotation

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 315,934 primary and 211,968 secondary school students in Sabah began to attend face-toface classes without rotation yesterday, days after Malaysia entered the transition to endemic phase on April 1.

Checks by Bernama found that students were in high spirits and thrilled to return to school after two years of having to undergo teaching and learning (PdP) sessions at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the same time, parents also expressed gratitude that their children’s lives as students will gradually return to normal during the transition phase.

In Kuala Lumpur, a father who wished to be known as Rajakumaran, 64, said he felt happy and relieved as his 16-yearold son R. Devandran is now able to resume face-to-face learning which could boost his spirit to continue studying.

Rajakumaran said his son, who is a student at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Bandar Baru Ampang were having difficulties participating in online classes due to the lack of mobile phone and internet access.

“I’m thankful that he gets to return to school. Before this, I had to spend RM600 to buy a mobile phone to make sure that my son would not get left behind in his school lessons. It was challenging because we are not from a wealthy family,” he told Bernama.

In Negeri Sembilan, a check at SMK Tunku Syed Idrus, Tampin, found that students were excited to go back to school and they also followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) by wearing a face mask.

Sarah Amir, 17, when met by Bernama, said she could not wait to meet her friends after having to undergo PdP sessions at home for so long and was happy to attend face-to-face classes as it would provide a better learning experience.

In Pahang, part-time photographer Shaikh Ahmad Razaif Shaikh Mustafa, 49, was relieved that school sessions had returned to normal and enabled his only child, Rayyan Akhlaqen, 14, to have more focus in class.

“It was quite difficult for me to help him at home because the current syllabus is truly different from what his mother and I studied before.

“Also, I hope my son can join club and sports activities because it will teach him to socialise and be more responsible and he will also get to meet new friends,” he said.

In Perak, state police chief Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid presented face masks to students of SMK Raja Perempuan, Ipoh during a visit to the school this morning.

Speaking to reporters, he said the face-to-face teaching and learning process that started yesterday involved 250 schools throughout the state.

Mior Faridalathrash said all district police chiefs and school liaison officers also visited schools to share information on safetyrelated issues and increase social cooperation, especially involving matters related to disciplinary problems. Meanwhile, in Selangor, the state education department said that 375,232 students began their face-to-face learning session yesterday.