KUALA LUMPUR: The new school term for the 2022/2023 academic session which will begin on March 21 will be more open with almost all students to attend classes without rotation, said Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin

However, he said, the Education Ministry (MOE) will continue to monitor the current situation to decide the date for students to attend school without rotation.

"When school reopens soon, we (the MOE) hope parents, students, teachers and those involved in education can work together to ensure that the standard operating procedures (SOP) are complied with so that the school session can proceed safely and in an organised manner," he said via video shared on his Facebook account today,

He said for parents or guardians who chose not to send their children to school when school re-opens, their absence will not be considered as a disciplinary offence, but they are required to inform the school for record purposes.

On the operation of primary schools, Mohd Radzi said students of public and private schools, including expatriate schools and international schools with an enrolment of fewer than 600 students, are required to attend face-to-face classes without rotation.

"Private primary schools, including expatriate schools and international schools with an enrolment of more than 600 pupils can apply to the MOE to completely operate without rotation," he added.

He also said for primary schools with an enrolment of more than 600 pupils, Year 3, 4 and 5 students could attend classes on a rotational basis and this also applied to private schools, expatriate schools, and international schools.

As for students with special needs (MBK), in Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas (SMKPK) and Integrated Special Education Programme (PPKI), as well as pre-school, Year 1, 2, 6, and also recipients of the Supplementary Food Programme (RMT) recipients, they have to attend physical school sessions without rotation, he added.

On the COVID-19 self-screening test for 10 per cent of primary school students implemented during the previous school term, Radzi said the requirement would be maintained for the new year session and the ministry would supply the test kits for the students to do the test at home and report the results to the school.

For secondary schools, he said, all students will undergo home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) for two weeks starting March 21.

All the students will start face-to-face classes without rotation from April 4, except for those in boarding schools, he said, adding that they included students with special needs, transition classes, Forms One to Six, pre-university students, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) students, and international examination students and the equivalent.

Radzi said for boarding secondary schools, students who will attend school without rotation are those in Form Two to Six, pre-university students, IBDP or the equivalent and they will be allowed into their hostel starting April 4.

He said Form One students who are qualified to enter boarding schools can choose to either undergo PdPR or transit at the nearest daily schools until the date of admission to boarding schools is announced by the ministry.

"This means for Form One students who have been offered boarding schools, they must stay at home and attend classes via PdPR or attend nearby schools for face-to-face classes until the announcement by MOE," he said.

According to him, for fully residential private schools which have the capacity to fully operate face-face learning, they can do so, including for Form One students.

On school uniforms, Radzi said the ministry would prefer students to wear their school uniform to school.

However, students are allowed to wear appropriate and decent clothing if their existing school uniform no fit them, he added.

For vocational colleges, he said, the school session would begin without rotation according to their respective academic year, and this included for students taking the Malaysian Vocational Certificate and the Malaysian Vocational Diploma.

He said for matriculation colleges, all students would attend classes without rotation according to their respective academic calendars.

For those in thee four-semester system, students in semester two and semester four will attend classes without rotation, and those in semester two for those in the two-semester system, he added.

As for Teacher Education Institutes (IPG), Radzi said physical classes for all programmes would be carried out according to the current academic calendar.

-- BERNAMA