Chai opined that it’s too early for MOE to call the shots by announcing that the schools will reopen for physical classes in stages starting Sept 1 given that the positive cases recorded daily nationwide have consistently exceeded 10,000 in the past few days. – Bernama file photo
KUCHING (July 18): It is too premature for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to call the shots by announcing that schools will reopen for physical classes in stages from Sept 1 given the pandemic situation nationwide, said Jonathan Chai today.
The president for the Association of Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division said Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 positive cases had been exceeding the 10,000-mark in the last couple of days.
“Consider the current pandemic situation in our country, it’s indeed a laudable and sensible move of the MOE to extend the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) till Aug 31.
“However, I think it’s too early for the MOE to call the shots by announcing that the schools will reopen for physical classes in stages starting Sept 1 given that the positive cases recorded daily nationwide have consistently exceeded 10,000 in the past few days.
“And the spike of positive cases is expected to continue for a while before the curve is flattened,” he said when commenting on the MOE’s announcement that schools will reopen in stages for physical classes from Sept 1.
Yesterday, the MOE announced that the PdPR will continue until Aug 31 and this applies to all government schools, government-aided schools, private schools and educational institutions registered with the ministry.
However, this ruling is subject to change depending on the latest risk assessments by the Ministry of Health and National Security Council.
The MOE said it will inform further details on the reopening of schools for face-to-face learning at least one week before schools re-open.
Schools in Malaysia were ordered to close in early May after the pandemic situation heightened with some schools recording positive cases.
Primary school pupils had returned to school in March and secondary school students resumed their physical classes in April.