SENIOR Education Minister Radzi Jidin described the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) following the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic as a blessing in disguise as Malaysian teachers began to improve their digital skills to impart knowledge to students.

He said the scenario had occurred since the enforcement of MCO 1.0 in March last year after schools had to be closed and the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) sessions had to be conducted.

“Our teachers are great. Before MCO, many teachers were not exposed to digitalisation, but from MCO 1.0 to MCO 3.0, Alhamdulilah, teachers began to use it to improve and learn digital methods to ensure knowledge can be imparted,” he said.

Radzi said this during a special talk show in conjunction with Teachers’ Day celebration which was aired live on the Education Ministry Facebook page today.

He admitted that the closure of schools during the period was a big challenge to teachers as they found it difficult to see the involvement of students in learning sessions.

Therefore, Radzi said the PdPR mechanism was creatively improved by teachers, including due to the constraints of technological facilities.

“For cases involving lack of devices and Internet access, teachers need to do everything they can, including sending educational modules to students’ homes to ensure that they do not fall behind in learning,” he said.

In addition, he said digitalisation in education was indeed the ministry’s policy and the process was inevitable to produce digital-savvy students.

The digitalisation in the education system included the method of marking the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination answer sheets via online and it was significantly more effective and time-saving, he added. – Bernama, May 16, 2021.