THE Education Ministry (MoE) cannot continue to be silent on important education issues brought up by parents and educators arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, said Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) education committee.

Its chairman, Dr Maszlee Malik, said the ministry has to come up with plans to address the effectiveness of the home-based teaching and learning system (PdPR) and a post-pandemic education plan.

In a statement, the committee suggested five measures that have to be taken by the ministry to address the problems with the education system.

The five measures are:

* To share data on the number of pupils who have dropped out and its plan to rectify this problem;

* The ministry must share data on the effectiveness of PdPR and come up with a plan to improve it for the continuity of education for all pupils;

* The ministry should also come up with a “one-stop centre” website to enable teachers to upload learning materials to be used for PdPR;

* Set up a National Education Action Committee (Majlis Tindakan Pendidikan Kebangsaan) comprising professional, experts, academics, teachers and parents to craft a plan for education post Covid-19; and

* Mobilise the education ministry, the ministry of communications and multimedia and other relevant agencies to increase the number of television programmes and videos to help parents guide their children during PdPR.

The statement by PH was jointly signed Maszlee; PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Natrah binti Ismail and Rush Aluai; Amanah’s Dr Hasan Baharom; and DAP’s Teo Nie Ching and Steven Sim.

The committee added that important issues have been raised to the ministry and till today there have been no response or answers.

“It is as if the minister and his deputies are setting aside the concerns of the people, teachers and parents.

“The ministry should also disclose the percentage of pupils who attend online classes and also the percentage of pupils who attended school prior to the third movement-control order,” the committee said.

They also urged the ministry to think out of the box when coming up with post-pandemic education plans.

Online-based home-learning started in March last year when the country was put in a full lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Schools nationwide reopened for physical classes in March and April this year, but once again reverted to online learning when the government announced a full lockdown from June 1 to June 14.

This has now been extended to June 28 as the number of daily infections in the country remains above 5,000. However, for the first time in 27 days, yesterday, Malaysia reported 4,949 new cases.

Education minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said last week that for the next school term which starts at the end of July, the ministry will make an announcement at least one week before schools reopen to inform whether classes will be held online or physically.

He said if schools were to reopen for physical classes, pupils sitting for major examinations would be given priority for face-to-face lessons. – June 15, 2021.