UM students want rule on face-to-face classes to be reviewed

Alfian Z.M. Tahir Alfian Z.M. Tahir Updated 4 years ago · Published on 26 Mar 2022 11:19AM · 0 Comments

UM Students’ Union says there must be a balance of face-to-face and online lectures available with more than 80% of its members uncomfortable with returning to class. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, March 26, 2022.

THE management of Universiti Malaya (UM) should reconsider its decision requiring undergraduates to return to campus for face-to-face lectures, according to Universiti Malaya Students’ Union (UMSU).

In a statement, UMSU said Thursday’s announcement by deputy vice chancellor (academic and international) Prof Yatimah Alias was made at short notice and will cause a number of problems for students.

“UMSU took note of the statement issued by the deputy vice chancellor about requiring local students to return to campus to hold face-to-face classes starting from the eighth week of study for Semester 2, Session 2021/2022.”

“Such a decision was made in haste and will cause so many problems for the students. The announcement should be made much earlier to allow students to be more prepared.”

“If the university decides to hold physical classes in the next academic session, we hope the announcement can be made before the semester begins,” it said.

Last Thursday, the deputy vice chancellor issued a statement requiring students to commence on-campus face-to-face classes.

Meanwhile, UMSU further said that students must be given the option to choose online learning or face-to-face lessons, even though the country is to enter the endemic phase from April 1.

“Students must be permitted to choose online classes or physical lecturers and we hope the management can reconsider its decision. Most of the students believe attending face-to-face classes has more disadvantages.

“Based on our survey on March 25, as many as 1,681 students (80.9%) said they are reluctant to return to campus while only 397 (19.1%) students stated that they are ready to return.

“Therefore, we strongly urged the management re-examine the issue taking into account the students’ wellbeing,” the union added.

The country saw new Covid-19 cases dipping to 21,839 yesterday, compared with 24,316 the day before. 

There have been 4.1 million Covid-19 cases in Malaysia since the onset of the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Health’s CovidNow website. – March 26, 2022.

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