The school year started today with face-to-face classes for those taking public examinations and lessons conducted via online learning platforms for all other students.
But with the country recording 3,631 new Covid-19 cases yesterday and the health ministry warning that the numbers would rise over the coming days, many students feel they are now risking their lives for “a piece of paper”.
“I can’t believe I’m going to school when we have over 3K daily cases. Pray for us,” said @uhhdnv.
“I prefer face to face than online classes, but not like this,” said Twitter user @wndhrh16. “Risking our life for a piece of paper with cases more than 3,000. C’mon KPM (education ministry), you can do better than this.”
Another user, @JiaZhe49383286, said that no student should have to risk their health or sacrifice their lives just for an examination during a pandemic.
Meanwhile, @highdyzz highlighted the risk of infection in schools with the SPM exam just weeks away on Feb 22.
Nearly half a million students will be sitting for the SPM exam (Feb 22) and STPM exam (March 8).
Several Twitter users also touched on the mental health issues they face, stating that it has led to stress and insomnia.
“I’m too scared to even sleep. But anyway, let’s get that sijil kematian (death certificate), shall we?” said @hahahaheih.
“Stop pressuring students before its too late,” stressed @husnskata, who attached screenshots of articles on higher rates of suicide and depression among youths.
Another user, @im_1163, posted a photo of a hospital ward and said she was hospitalised due to stress about her safety and the future.
Meanwhile, complaints about the lack of adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), such as physical distancing, have left users such as @LimSylvialim43 “speechless”.
Sally Nur Dinie Lim, an SPM student at Pusat Bandar Puchong 1 who started the #SuaraPelajar hashtag with three friends on Jan 5, said her aim was to get the education ministry to pay attention to students’ concerns.
“I want to ‘open the door’ for SPM 2020 students to voice out (their concerns) as I believe many of them want to do so but are scared or don’t have the confidence to do it,” she told FMT.
Meanwhile, a petition calling for the upcoming SPM exam to be cancelled or postponed has reached the 42,000 mark at the time of writing.
Apart from the difficulties many students face due to online learning, the petition’s organisers also cited the toll the pandemic has taken on students’ mental health and the increased risk of Covid-19 transmissions as reasons for starting the petition.
Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has also warned of the risk of increased Covid-19 infections, and a “SPM cluster”, by going ahead with today’s reopening of schools to examination students.
Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) said students sitting for public exams this year should be given an option to opt out from in-person classes and not be reprimanded for doing so.
PAGE chief Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said parents are worried about some schools’ plans to hold revision classes for those sitting for exams such as SPM or STPM.
She said parents are also concerned about the adherence to SOPs in schools, judging from last year’s experience when schools reopened for two months.