Education ministry improving SOPs as more schools reopen

Students who return to full boarding schools will have to undergo three Covid-19 self-tests while those returning to day boarding schools will test themselves once upon registration with their respective centres, Education Minister Radzi Jidin said today.

He said this was among the improvements to management and operational guidelines for schools following the reopening of educational institutions on Oct 3.

He also said his ministry had provided the Guidelines for School Management and Operation 3.0 as a reference for state education departments.

“Other improvements include making face masks mandatory for everyone including students, ensuring good ventilation in classrooms, and making sure that students eat in open spaces, under the supervision of teachers for air-conditioned classrooms,” he said in the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

He was responding to Bashir Alias who had asked about the studies and Covid-19 risk analysis on the part of the ministry and aspects taken into consideration for the reopening of schools.

Radzi said the education ministry had held engagement sessions and conducted detailed analyses of the best practices of reopening schools in other countries.

He said the details of the plan to reopen schools were also laid out together with the health ministry and National Security Council.

These include allowing only fully vaccinated teachers to conduct face-to-face classes with students.

Likewise, only personnel including support staff who have been fully vaccinated are allowed to enter and work in school premises.

More than 300,000 students returned to school for physical classes in the first week of schools reopening in states under Phase Two, Three and Four of the National Recovery Plan.

A rotation system was also enforced, meaning that classes are limited to 50% of student capacity.