Schools in states under Phase Two, Three of PPN to reopen from Oct 3

Senior Minister of Education Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin said schools in states under Phase One of the PPN would remain closed.

For states under Phase Two of the PPN, it would only involve examination classes while schools in states under Phase Three of the PPN were allowed to be fully opened.

"This is based on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the National Security Council (MKN). So, we cannot say that all schools will reopen on Sept 1. The safety of students is the government's main priority.

"Our target (for school to reopen) is on Sept 1 but it is subject to risk assessment by the Health Ministry and MKN with discussions with the Education Ministry," he said in a video that was uploaded on his official Facebook account tonight.

Radzi said the current situation in states, including the vaccination rate and the capacity of health facilities, must be taken into consideration before making any decision on the reopening of schools.

On the initiative to help students who are falling behind in their studies if the Home-based Teaching and Learning (PdPR) session is continued, Radzi said: "For Year One and Two pupils who may be lagging behind in terms of reading literacy and numeracy, we will provide refresher programmes to help them master the minimum level.

On July 17, the Education Ministry, in a media statement, said that schools would be opened in stages for face-to-face teaching and learning sessions from Sept 1, after taking into account the high vaccination rate among teachers as well as school administrators and support staff.

However, in the same statement, the ministry said it would also take into account risk assessments done by the MoH and MKN if there is a need to change the proposed date.

Meanwhile, in another Facebook post, Radzi said a total of 102,352 devices had been distributed to eligible students to date, through the CERDIK initiative.

He said the distribution of the remaining 47,648 units was expected to be completed by the end of September.

CERDIK is a GLC-driven corporate social responsibility pilot initiative to assist students from lower-income families to adjust to the new norms of online learning, e-learning and other forms of distance learning.

The distribution status of devices under the initiative announced in Budget 2021 is frequently updated and is available on https://www.cerdik.org/ms/deployment-tracker/.