PARENTS of students in public schools are in a bind over the Education Ministry’s (MoE) rule on closing schools for two days when a Covid-19 case is detected, parent and education groups said.

The move will result in intermittent schooling, which is disruptive for children and parents, many of whom cannot afford alternative education such as private tutors or private schools.

Malacca Action Group for Parents in Education chairman Mak Chee Kin said alternative systems of education was out of reach for many parents at the moment due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

“Many parents are puzzled and disillusioned with the ministry’s system of closing schools for two days and reopening thereafter, even if there is a single Covid-19 case.

“This system doesn’t solve anything but is creating more anxiety, panic and chaos among parents and teachers,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Physical schooling sessions were severely disrupted last year due to the pandemic, and reopened in January this year amid complaints from parents and education groups about the lack of a cohesive and long-term strategy to deal with any resurgence of Covid-19 infections.

For the most part, MoE’s measures were on the standard operating procedure (SOP) that schools should put in place on their premises.

New infections spiked in the last few months, and many new clusters involved education institutions, including schools.

Last month, the ministry finally announced its plan – to impose two-day school closures following detection of even a single Covid-19 case.

The two days are for health authorities to conduct risk assessments, trace close contacts and sanitise the premises, with the decision to reopen schools made by the health district office.

The ministry also subsequently announced that all schools would close for a further two weeks after Hari Raya to prevent the possibility of more virus transmissions, with students to do online and home-based learning instead.

Ahead of Hari Raya next week, schools in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have also closed after being placed under a third movement-control order (MCO 3.0).

These disruptions are seeing some parents who can afford it to opt for private lessons instead, but the majority are unable to.

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said most parents are daily or minimum wage earners, and therefore cannot afford private education for their children.

“Most parents who are on daily wage or minimum wage will have to prioritise between putting food on the table and education.

“Switching schools is not an option for most parents. It is a minority only who can afford to move into private education,” she said.

In many cases, parents are just resigned to making the best out of a bad situation.

“(They) encourage their children to watch TV education and make the best of the situation.”

Noor Azimah also reiterated PAGE’s earlier stance that school holidays should have been shortened to allow students to proceed with online learning from home.

“Now that MCO 3.0 has been declared, children have nothing to do in terms of formal learning. Then, it is mid-term holidays again,” she said.

Private education too expensive for many

Several parents who spoke to The Malaysian Insight agreed with the education groups that private education was too costly for most people.

Some parents also said they have been keeping their children away from school with the recent spike in cases as a precautionary measure against infections. This has resulted in low attendance in physical classes.

Parent Albert Chong, said most parents were not sending their children to school due to Covid-19 cases.

“It is more like parents don’t want to let their children go to school due to one of the students having Covid-19 or as a precaution,” said the father of three children aged 16, 15 and 10, who attend a school in Subang Jaya.

“But to change from public to private, not every family can afford private schooling,” he added.

Selvaamresh Supramaniam whose two daughters aged 15 and 17 attend Catholic High in Petaling Jaya, said his family had initially considered switching to a private school but scratched the idea due to cost.

“We considered home-schooling and private schools. We spoke about it, but because of cost, we dropped the idea,” he said.

“We also contemplated sending them to a learning centre.”

In the end, however, Selvaamresh said they accepted the situation despite all the interruptions to learning as his daughters’ current school has handled the Covid-19 situation well.

“The school they are in now is quite good. Teachers are dedicated. There’s no reason to take them out of it. It’s got a good mix of students as well and there are no disciplinary issues.

“They do their online classes everyday without fail. Even on weekends sometimes they have classes because the teachers want to have extra classes to replace missed classes,” said Selvaamresh.

Not all public schools are as well-organised to handle online classes and ensure uninterrupted education, as much as possible, for students.

Another parent who did not want to be named said his eight-year-old’s schooling has been interrupted three times in the last two months due to Covid-19 cases at school.

The father of three expressed disdain for the MoE’s decision to close schools two days at a time, instead of developing longer-term plans.

He said he has now engaged a personal tutor for his eight-year-old and is contemplating enrolling his two younger children in a private school. – May 8, 2021.