Curbing the spread of Covid-19 in schools

LAST week, the National Union Of The Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general suggested that schools be closed only if the number of Covid-19 cases is high. However, more schools and institutions are being closed due to Covid19. As an example, 19 schools in Selangor’s Petaling district were ordered to be temporarily closed from yesterday for disinfection and contact tracing of both students and teachers after several Covid-19 cases were detected.

So, are we going to wait until our cases reach a record high before schools are closed, by which time perhaps hundreds of pupils and teachers would be infected?

The Education Ministry should start taking different measures to control the spread of Covid-19 in schools.

First, we have to understand that secondary school students are independent and easily mingle around both in and out of school. In this case, the Education Ministry could revert to online learning for Form 1 to Form 4 students at least until the end of May as a step to control their movement. Only Forms 5 and 6 students should be in school as they are preparing for their major examinations this year.

Pre-schoolers and primary school pupils can be allowed to go to school as usual. This is because they are sent to and picked up from school by their parents, hence their movements are more controlled.

I believe any small measures that can help curb the spread of Covid-19 would be very important at this juncture. The Education Ministry should really look into this.

RED ALERT Raub, Pahang