In a tweet this morning, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said it was necessary to ensure that students could return to their schools safely.

“With schools #ReopeningSafely, 90% of 17-year-olds and 88% of 16-year-olds in @KemPendidikan schools have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Let’s get our children back to school safely,” he tweeted.

About 47,000 students in Terengganu, Kelantan and Langkawi, Kedah resumed face-to-face classes yesterday, while another 94,000 in 10 states went back to school today.

Senior education minister Radzi Jidin had previously said these initial batches involved students who will sit for examinations.

He said the schools involved will use a student rotation method with the weekly attendance set at 50% capacity of classes to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection.

Through the national Covid-19 immunisation programme for adolescents, the government is targeting 60% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 to get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by November, and 80% of them to be fully vaccinated before schools open for the 2022 session.