MANY schools have said they can handle the move back to online classes if Covid-19 cases reach a level of concern and institutions are again closed to curb the spread of the virus.

The detection of the highly contagious BA.5, a sub-variant of Omicron, and the steady rise in cases have set alarm bells ringing among parents, who are now asking if there will be a return to online classes and learning from home.

BA.5 is understood to be the most contagious version of the Omicron yet and it’s evading immunity.

National Union of Heads of Schools president Lim Bee Khim said Chinese primary schools would have no problem going back to conducting lessons online.

“They are ready if the Ministry of Education orders schools closed again,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

She said with the experience they had last year, both teachers and students have what it takes “to get into it right away”.

“There shouldn’t be too much concern. The schools are ready to go.”

However, the headmaster of SJK(C) Batu 11 Cheras, Chuah Soo Cheng, is not as optimistic as Lim.

Chuah said the niggling problems that had plagued the online classes were never sorted out.

She said since there are no personal interactions between a teacher and their students in online classes, the teachers cannot evaluate whether the students understood the lessons.

Chuah added there was still no guideline on what to do when students switch off their cameras to attend the class “in the dark”.

“If the online classes are back, the same old problems would also be back.”

Chuah also pointed out that in physical classes, students “learn more than what teachers dish out of the textbook”.

“In physical classes, they learn how to be disciplined and how to socialise, how to interact with other people, ie their teachers, classmates and other students.”

Yet, in terms of infrastructure, like Lim, Chuah said going back to online classes would not be a problem.

“The school is prepared for such a situation. It’s just that we wish we could have better measures in place so that the outbreak could be controlled,” she said.

Penang Union of Heads of Schools consultant Chew Eng Hock agreed with Chuah’s concerns.

Chew said that online classes are always more challenging like poor internet service.

On April 1, the government declared that the country was in the transition to the endemic phase of Covid-19.

Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Education announced that schools would be open from April 18, albeit gradually and with standard operating procedures (SOP) in place.

Chuah said, despite the SOP, some parents have become concerned now over the BA.5 sub-variant.

She said a number of them have called her school with suggestions on how to tighten the SOP.

One suggestion was to allow students to eat in classrooms rather than where they are packed closely together in the canteen.

Chuah said even though the school followed the Ministry of Education’s directive in May to allow students to eat in the canteen, her school has designated more areas where they can eat to disperse them into smaller groups.

She also said the school understands that the epidemic is not yet under control, so it still takes precautionary measures to prevent any outbreaks.

Another headmaster, Chew Eng Hock of SJK (C) Min Sin in Penang, said the SOPs for schools are still tight despite the general relaxation.

“We ask students to eat by themselves as their mask is taken off and not to talk when they are eating.

“We still continue to take students’ temperatures every day, get them to wash their hands when they enter school, and disinfection of classrooms and toilets has not stopped.”

Chew said students in Min Sin still adhere to the social distancing requirement and they are seated 1m apart.

“Before the epidemic, students could leave freely at the end of the school. Now we insist that they wait in their classes for their parents to arrive,” he said, adding that this method allowed children to leave in a more orderly manner.

Another headmaster, Lim Bee Khim, said with Covid-19 cases showing a rise, schools must control the crowding in the canteen.

“That is where the risk is the greatest,” he said. – July 28, 2022.