Dr Maszlee Malik – Bernama file photo
JOHOR BAHRU: The Education Ministry is monitoring all schools in Sarawak, especially students sitting for the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) following very unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings this morning.
Its minister, Dr Maszlee Malik said the Sarawak Education Department would be taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety of students based on the existing standard operating procedure.
“We (ministry) will wait for the reports on the latest developments from those on the ground,” he told reporters after flagging off the Merdeka Special Charity Run 2019 in Pasir Gudang, near here, today.
The three-kilometre run, was held to raise funds to build a special education hall at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kota Masai 2. Two thousand people took part in the event which also recorded the highest number of disabled at 1,200 in such a fun run in the country.
Up to noon today, the API reading in Sri Aman rose slightly from the reading at 8 am, while the readings in Kuching and Samarahan dropped slightly but were still at very unhealthy levels.
Secretariat head of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee, Major Ismail Mahedin from the state’s Civil Defence Force, reportedly said that Sri Aman recorded an API reading of 236 compared with 229 earlier, Kuching 225 (232) and Samarahan 202 (213).
Six areas with unhealthy air recorded improved API readings, with Sarikei having a reading of 174 compared with 164 earlier, ILP Miri 142 (137), Sibu 181 (161), Miri 155 (149), SK Baram 115 (107) and Mukah 109 (101).
Meanwhile, on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement on introducing to schools in the country soon, the teaching method of using video recordings by selected teachers, Maszlee said it was the ministry’s direction in enhancing the concept of e-learning.
He said this teaching method which was tabled before Dr Mahathir a few months ago could ensure that the top talented teachers would not only be able to teach in their own class but in fact, nationwide.
“We have a number of platforms being developed and this is also Tun Dr Mahathir’s aspiration that we will be implementing. We are trying to start this by 2020. We will announce it when the time comes and Tun may be launching it,” he added.
During Dr Mahathir’s visit to the Ritsumeikan Elementary School in Kyoto, Japan yesterday, the prime minister had reportedly said that the teaching method of using recorded lessons would be shared with other schools to benefit their students and teachers.
“We try to ease teaching because not all teachers are the same. What we want is to benefit from the good teachers, record their lessons and it would be shared with the teachers in other schools. These teachers will then guide and explain to their students,” said Dr Mahathir. – Bernama