PRESCHOOLS will be reopened on July 1 said Ismail Sabri Yaakob today.

The senior minister said this was decided in the special ministers meeting, after he was briefed on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) today. 

“There are 6,216 preschools registered under the Education Ministry, 7,887 private, 1,781 under the Unity Ministry and 8,530 under the Community Development Department (Kemas) of the Rural and Regional Development Ministry and we have allowed all to be reopened starting July 1. 

“A detailed SOP has been drafted. How to eat, how to study in a group, how to play, how to sit in classrooms,” Ismail Sabri said, adding that the Education Ministry will announce this at a later date. 

According to the National Security Council’s SOP, childcare centres must carry out disinfection at least twice daily. 

Operators are required to provide hand sanitisers and use face masks at all times. 

Preschools have been closed for more than three months after the government imposed the movement-control order (MCO) on March 18.

Under the first phase of the MCO, almost the entire sector in the country were ordered to shut down. 

The country is now under the recovery MCO, where certain outdoor activities such as jogging and fishing have been allowed to resume. – June 15, 2020.