KUALA LUMPUR – On the average, student attendance exceeded 85% during face-to-face school sessions for the period from October 3 until yesterday, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Education Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said this showed that the reopening of schools has generally been well-received by parents as well as students, and has enabled teachers to assess their students’ mastery of lessons and apply the appropriate interventions.
“Overall, the number of schools currently operating (nationwide for the period of October 3 to November 29) stands at 10,060, involving a total of 4,385,281 students.
“All primary and secondary schools under the MoE (Ministry of Education) in states under Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) are fully operational, involving 8,166 schools.
“As for Kelantan and Sarawak, which are under PPN Phase 3, a total of 1,894 schools have been in operation, involving 1,526 primary schools and 368 secondary schools,” he said during Ministers’ Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Radzi was replying to a question from Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (Kuala Krai-PAS), who wanted to know the latest on school operations nationwide since the staggered reopening from October 3, including the acceptance of teachers, students and parents on the matter.
In response to Abdul Latiff’s supplementary question on the MoE’s plan for all schools to operate fully without having to rotate, Radzi said currently attendance without rotation involved examination class students on the condition that 90% of them (at the school) have been vaccinated.
He said currently examination class students nationwide were allowed to attend schools fully except for those in four schools which had not achieved the 90% vaccination rate.
“We are working closely with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to see which cohort can be included to attend school fully.
“As far as possible, the MoE would like everyone to return to school soonest, without going through the rotational system, but we always have to consider health factors and discuss with the MoH, especially with the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant,” he said. – Bernama, November 30, 2021