MORE than half a million form five and upper form six pupils begin classes today in the first phase of Malaysia’s cautious reopening of schools since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Teachers, administrators and parents have prepared some 2,400 national, residential and private schools nationwide to welcome pupils back with the necessary standard operating procedures (SOP) issued by the Health Ministry.

The SOP will ensure that all staff and pupils are able to maintain a 1m distancing rule at all times and a high degree of personal hygiene.

How successfully they implement the SOP will influence when pupils of other levels will be allowed back to schools, said teachers and parents.

Administrators and teachers will also be monitoring how to cope with the split of existing classes into smaller ones since this would require some educators to do double duties.

For instance, before schools were shut during the movement-control order (MCO), a form five mathematics teacher would be required to teach four classes.

But if the four classes are split into eight classes, the same teacher would have to teach eight classes. Another option is for another teacher, who may not necessarily teach form five, assigned to the extra classes.

Despite these new challenges, National Union of Teaching Profession president Amiruddin Awang told The Malaysian Insight teachers and administrators are 100% ready to get back to class.

“We are 100% ready to receive pupils, restart classes and to ensure that the SOP is followed,” Amiruddin said.

Most of the Sarawak-based teachers who were initially stranded in the peninsula, have returned to the region, thanks to the Sarawak volunteers’ civil group, he said.

The phased reopening of schools will start with the two cohorts who are scheduled to take public examinations next April.

They will sit for either the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, Sijil Vokasional Malaysia (SVM), Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) and their international equivalents.

Each school must adopt the Education Ministry’s SOP rules, including:

* pupils and all staff must undergo temperature checks before being allowed into the premises.

* desks placed 1m apart and classes be limited to 20 pupils.

* recess times be staggered and meals be eaten in class instead of the canteen.

* hand sanitisers to be placed in each classroom, which is to be sanitised at the end of each day.

* all group assignments, assemblies and co-curricular activities are suspended.

The ministry said the resumption of other secondary school levels and primary school will be made at a later date based on the approval of the National Security Council and Health Ministry.

Learning mood

The reopening initially hit a snag after the Sarawak education minister said about 2,664 teachers from the peninsula who are due in Sarawak could not return to their postings.

They included about 400 teachers required for form five and upper six classes.

Sarawak Volunteers president Md Rafique Hafeedzy Agus said the group successfully organised two chartered flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and one from KL to Sibu to bring these teachers back.

“We negotiated on behalf of the teachers and Malaysia Airlines for these three flights. There were more than 500 teachers on the flights which left on June 19 and 20,” said Rafique.

“The commercial rate for the flight ticket is about RM1,000 but we managed to get a special price for the teachers at RM600.”

The group will organise another flight on June 29 if there is demand from other stranded teachers.

Parents, meanwhile, are hoping that the SOPs will keep their children safe given that the country is still reporting new infections every day.

As of yesterday, three new Covid-19 cases were reported, bringing the total number of infections to 8,590 with 121 deaths.

“There are worries but we have to move forward and make sure that our children take these precautions,” said Wan Zaidi Wan Zin, who heads a parent-teacher group in Kuala Lumpur.

“We just have to be disciplined and schools must involve parents in enforcing the SOP,” said Wan Zaidi, chairman of Persatuan Permuafakatan Penglibatan Ibu Bapa dan Komuniti Kuala Lumpur.

Online lessons could not replace the need for face-face interactions between pupils and teachers, especially for those who will be sitting for important public exams, he said.

“In our group, pupils have told parents that they wanted to get back to class because they missed the learning environment,” said Wan Zaidi, who once headed his child’s parent-teacher association.

The group learning experience in a class, where questions and discussions occur between a teacher and pupils, is critical towards understanding complex subjects, said Wan Zaidi.

“It is timely to return to school because children who are sitting for exams are hankering to start studying again and they want to get into the mood again.

“The SOP will also hopefully prevent clusters from breaking out between pupils and it is good that we are reopening in phases.” – June 24, 2020.