THE reopening of schools in states under phases two and three of the national recovery plan (NRP) has been postponed to October 3 from the original date of September 1.

Meanwhile, schools in states under phase one of the NRP will remain closed, said Senior Minister of Education Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin.

For phase two states, the reopening of schools will only involve examination classes.

For states in phase three, schools will be allowed to be fully-opened.

“This is based on the standard operating procedure issued by the National Security Council (NSC). So, we cannot say that all schools will reopen on September 1. The safety of students is the government’s main priority.

“Our target (for school to reopen) is on September 1 but it is subject to risk assessment by the Health Ministry (MoH) and NSC (together) with discussions with the Education Ministry,” he said in a video that was uploaded to his official Facebook account today.

Radzi said the current situation in states, including the vaccination rate and the capacity of health facilities, must be taken into consideration before making any decision on the reopening of schools.

On the initiative to help students who are falling behind in their studies if the Home-based Teaching and Learning (PdPR) session is continued, Radzi said: “For year one and two pupils who may be lagging behind in terms of reading literacy and numeracy, we will provide refresher programmes to help them master the minimum level.” – Bernama, August 15, 2021.