NUTP: Close schools only if cases are high

PETALING JAYA: Schools should only fully close if the number of Covid-19 cases within the school fraternity starts climbing.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan said: “This is to ensure education can go on uninterrupted for the other students, providing that those who tested positive are quickly isolated and quarantined.”

“If only one person is found to be positive, then that person will already be told to quarantine while, I believe, the Health Ministry conducts contact tracing,” he said.

He added that the authorities had been consistent in determining the need to temporarily close affected schools or classes or quarantine the affected individuals.

However, educationist Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said the whole school should be closed if cases were detected as students would come into contact with each other, especially during dismissal.

“Teachers have been working very hard to ensure the safety and well-being of students but somehow cases are on the rise.

“These students are also exposed to the outside elements,” he said.

The Health Ministry has said that two school clusters have emerged in Sabah and Kedah.

The Permatang Berangan cluster in Kuala Muda, Sungai Petani and the Jalan Khidmat cluster in Kota Kinabalu were deemed workplace clusters found in educational institutions, it said in a statement yesterday.

There are 28 positive cases in Permatang Berangan following 51 screenings while 24 positive cases have been detected in Jalan Khidmat after 796 screenings when a 14-year-old was found to be positive on April 12.

Over the course of the past one month, at least 20 national schools have been told to close by the authorities to prevent the spread of the virus among staffers and students.

This comes as the daily number of new cases in the country remains above 1,000 and parents are anxious as more and more cases emerge among teachers and students.

Meanwhile, parents are calling for more transparency regarding the standard operating procedure involving Covid-19 cases detected among teachers and students.

This comes as more confirmed cases were found among the school fraternity with the latest being SJK (C) Pin Hwa 1.

A total of three teachers tested positive leading to 14 classes being placed under quarantine.

SJK (C) Puay Chai 2 parent-teacher association chairman Loh Tian Hong said parents had been left in the dark as to what should be done by them if their child’s classmate was found to have the virus.

“There is no black-and-white SOP or guidance given to us.

“We do not know if it is safe to send our children to school as the pupils come into close contact with each other, including going to the same daycare or using the same transporters,” he told The Star.

Six pupils in the school were infected with the virus, with five classes closed and 11 teachers placed under home quarantine before the authorities finally ordered the school to be closed.

SMK Cochrane and SMK (P) Bandaraya PTA chairman Faizal Mohammad Arshad said parents should await instructions from the school if any of its students or staffers were suspected of having the virus.

Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education chairman Mak Chee Kin said it was better for individual schools to close if there were cases detected among teachers and students to allay fears.

On March 21, Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said any closure of schools, whether fully or partly, would be done on the advice of the district health office.