Stating that 61% of the country’s teachers and 46% of support staff have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Friday, the ministry said yesterday it would base any decision to move from the Sept 1 target only after further assessment by the health ministry and the National Security Council (MKN).
“I hope the ministry has considered all factors, from the safety, health and preparedness of the schools and the states. And whether they are ready for face-to-face classes or not,” said PIBGN president Mohamad Ali Hasan.
“I also hope students, parents and teachers are ready to resume class and follow tight SOPs.”
While he admitted that parents might have doubts about sending their children back to school, he felt that the education ministry set the Sept 1 date because it was confident that Covid-19 cases would subside by then – and it would be safe to return to school.
He added that the decision might have also been influenced by other factors, such as online learning fatigue, concerns about its effectiveness, and issues pertaining to internet connectivity and lack of devices.
National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan welcomed the ministry’s announcement, saying that “many parents and teachers have been clamouring for it” considering the success of the vaccination programme.
“As the ministry has all the science, facts and statistics, we trust that this is a good decision for all Malaysians as we want to get back to our usual lives,” he said, adding that teachers were being given “utmost priority” in getting vaccines.
Not all parents have been as welcoming though, with Dennis Ong, a father of three students at SK Puchong Jaya 2, stating that he didn’t agree with the move – and he didn’t think many other parents did either.
“We shut down schools when numbers (daily Covid-19 cases) were in their thousands, and now it’s five digits,” he pointed out.
“I admit my kids are restless. However, I would only be comfortable sending them back to school if cases were below 2,000,” he said, going on to express concerns about the aggressive spread of the Delta variant across the country.
Based on the national recovery plan (NRP) announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last month, the education sector will be allowed to operate in stages during the third phase – which is expected at the end of August.
According to the NRP, the country will enter the third phase when three threshold values are met — the average daily Covid-19 cases drop below the 2,000 mark, ICU capacity is at a “comfortable” level, and at least 40% of the population is fully vaccinated.
Education minister Radzi Jidin’s Facebook post announcing the news of the resumption of face-to-face learning drew nearly 700 comments and was shared more than 8,000 times as of midnight, with many parents hoping the ministry would reconsider extending online learning until the end of the year.
Some also hoped that the return to class would be limited to older students in Form 5 and Form 6 as they would be sitting for public examinations.
“They are big enough to comply with SOPs,” said Facebook user Wan Emran Shafiee in reply to Radzi’s post.
“We need to remember that only teachers have been vaccinated, students have not.
“We are worried that school clusters will dominate (the numbers) after this. We don’t want to lose our children’s lives.”
CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIVE UPDATE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA