KUCHING: Two public universities here have begun conducting online lectures in light of the current Covid-19 situation.
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak rector Prof Dato Dr Jamil Hamali said the university’s e-learning approach was to minimise face-to-face contact between students.
“All students do not have to attend lectures as they can carry on with their studies via online with their respective lecturers.
“By doing so, students will feel safe and their parents do not need to worry,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Apart from that, Jamil said UiTM Sarawak had also cancelled its student recruitment sessions, which was scheduled to be held from March 13 to 15.
Moreover, he said the university would also be postponing its 92nd convocation ceremony to a later date.
Jamil said other precautionary measures taken by UiTM Sarawak included screening the students who exhibited key symptoms such as fever or coughing.
“At our Kota Samarahan campus, we have two doctors as well as a room to quarantine students (suspected of being infected),” he added.
Meanwhile, an academic personnel from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) said the university’s management was in the process of planning its online lecture sessions to ensure that courses would not be disrupted.
“The approach taken by several institutions of higher learning (IPT) to curb the spread of Covid-19 by conducting lecture sessions via online is one of the steps to reduce the risk of being exposed to large groups.
“This is also in line with the government’s directive to avoid holding any form of gathering,” disclosed the
personnel, on request of anonymity.
He said the activation of e-learning mode would not be a problem for Unimas as the university had implemented online lecture sessions before.
Sarawak registered 11 new positive Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 20 since Friday, when the first three cases were recorded.