MOE assure safe PdP process in new normal

Senior Education Minister Dr Radzi Jidin said parents should not worry about sending their children, instead, they should play a role in ensuring the health of the student before they are sent to school.

"Students' movements will also be monitored by teachers. We have been very careful in drafting these guidelines with the MOH (Ministry of Health Malaysia) and the National Security Council (MKN), the guidelines starting from the school gates as soon as students arrive at school until they return home.

"We appreciate the role of parents very much, make sure that unhealthy children are not sent to school, this is very important. Parents know the conditions of their children better, they should have the initiative to keep these children at home if they are unhealthy. or to send them for treatment, "he said.

He said this in a special interview regarding the reopening of schools in his office here recently.

On Wednesday, Radzi announced that schools across the country would reopen starting June 24, involving 500,444 students and 2,440 national secondary schools and a number of international schools.

He was reported to have involved students who will sit for Certificate of Education Malaysia (SPM), Vocational Certificate of Malaysia (SVM), Higher School Certificate of Malaysia (STPM) and Higher Religious Certificate of Malaysia (STAM) and international examinations.

Meanwhile, Radzi also explained the relevance of choosing Wednesday (June 24) as the first day of school reopening to Form Five, Form Six, Vocational and Higher Religious Certificate of Malaysia (STAM) students, was based on strategic purposes.

He said, because reopening the school itself was a big operation, the ministry purposely needed a three days window - or two days to some states - to look at any specific issue that needed to be addressed and improved over the weekend or if there were changes to be made to the guidelines.

"We want to see that if it (guidelines) is good, then it is fine. But if there is any improvement that we need to do to the guidelines or any of the processes, then we have over the weekend (to address). If we start on Monday, we will go for five days straight, and there's no gap at all.

"It is a strategic decision so that the kids can go to school safely and to make sure that if there is any issue we can address it over the weekend, so that they can go back (to school) on Monday for a better environment.

"(But only) if there's any need. Because this is our first experience, we have to be really careful and tactful. We have to take into consideration each and every factor," Radzi added.

In the meantime, he hoped that all parties would play their part in complying with the guidelines issued by the MOE in ensuring the safety and health of the various parties.

"It not only requires the role of the teachers but also the students and the parents. These guidelines will be improved over time, "he said.