THE Education Ministry has no plans to end the school session for states under phase four of the national recovery plan earlier than scheduled despite the detection of Covid-19 cases among students.

Senior Education Minister Radzi Jidin said so far, there are 200 cases involving students and the situation is under control.

The 2021 year-end school holiday for states in Group A, namely Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, will begin on December 10 while for Group B, namely Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor as well as the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, on December 11.

“The number of active cases is low compared to the total number of students who attended school, which is around 4.5 million people,” Radzi said.

“As we are moving towards the endemic phase, this (Covid-19 infection) will occur but with the existing SOP (standard operating procedure), we will try to control the situation to prevent the virus from spreading further.”

He said this at a press conference after launching the Pendang Academy of Science with Deputy Human Resources Minister Awang Hashim, who is also Pendang MP. 

Radzi said any decision with regard to the closure of schools will depend on the risk assessment conducted by the Health Ministry.

He said face-to-face school session is important to prevent students from being left behind in their lessons.

In another development, he said the ministry has approved 11,469 teacher transfer applications or 55% of the total 20,772 applications received.

“We will announce the results tomorrow,” he said. – Bernama, December 5, 2021.