2021: The year classrooms went quiet

KUALA LUMPUR: The second COVID-19 pandemic year saw changes to the school academic calendar at some point across the country when the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented several times in the year.

To recap, there were times when schools were allowed to operate face-to-face, followed by home-based teaching and learning (PdPR), then physical learning again but with a rotation system.

When 2021 started, schools were scheduled to begin on Jan 20 until Dec 9 for Group A schools involving Johor, Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu while Group B schools from other states to begin on Jan 20 until Dec 10, to ensure 194 school days in the academic calendar.

On Jan 13, the government imposed targeted MCO in six states - Penang, Selangor, Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan), Melaka, Johor and Sabah - which forced schools under the Ministry of Education (MOE) to postpone face-to-face session.

However, face-to-face schooling session was allowed only for educational institutions under the MOE in areas placed under the MCO, involving students sitting for major local examinations in 2020 and 2021, as well as equivalent international examinations.

Meanwhile, in areas under the Conditional MCO (CMCO) or Recovery MCO (RMCO), the operation of educational institutions and all categories of Private Educational Institutions (IPS) registered with the MOE, including international schools, were based on the calendars of respective institutions.

Following input and feedback from all parties, Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin on Feb 19 announced that face-to-face school session would commence on March 1 involving preschool, Year 1 and 2 classes, while Year 3 to Year 6 session would start on March 8.

As for secondary school, Group A states returned to school on April 4 while Group B on April 5, which was after the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2020 examination that had taken place from Feb 22 to March 25.

Along with it, vocational colleges began to operate from March 1 while international schools and private educational institutions, including tuition centres, on March 8.

The opening of face-to-face school session brought relief to most parties, especially parents, but all good things came to an end after many schools in several states were forced to close following the detection of COVID-19 positive cases in schools.

On April 26, MOE decided on PdPR learning in schools for two weeks after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, scheduled from May 7 to 15 for Group A schools and May 8 to 16 for Group B schools, to avoid the risk of COVID-19 infections in schools after the celebration.

The PdPR session was held from May 16 to 27 for Group A schools and May 17 to 28 for Group B schools and after the PdPR period, students continued their term holidays from May 28 to June 12 for Group A schools and May 29 to June 13 for Group B schools.

However, a total lockdown was later decided by the government through the National Security Council (MKN), on the social and economic sectors (first phase) nationwide for 14 days beginning June 1, where all sectors were not allowed to operate, except for essential economic and service sectors listed by MKN.

This, once again postponed the face-to-face schooling session until Oct 3, which later saw schools reopening in stages and with a rotation system, according to the phases of states under the National Recovery Plan (PPN).

Under the rotation system, students had to take turns to attend school, with attendance set at 50 per cent of the classroom capacity to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, excluding schools undergoing PPN Phase One, which remained closed but continued with PdPR session.

In addition, the MOE also decided that the 2021 schooling session would be extended to March 2022 so that intervention among weak students could be carried out on the grounds that they have not attended classes for some time.

The third term of the 2021/2022 school session for states in Group A will now begin on Jan 2 until March 20, 2022, while in Group B, from Jan 3 to March 20, 2022.

The academic calendar for the 2022/2023 school session for states in Group A is from March 21, 2022, to March 11, 2023, while for schools in the Group B states, the school session will also begin on the same date but will end on March 12, 2023.

The MOE is still studying the appropriateness in changing the new school term from January to March, using next year's session as a guide.

-- BERNAMA