Dato Richard Wee – File photo
KUCHING: Chinese independent schools in the city are awaiting the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) guidelines before reopening upper classes amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, said Dato Richard Wee.
The chairman of Board of Management Committee for Kuching Chung Hua Middle School (CHMS) No.1, 3 and 4 said he was in favour of reopening classes which students would be sitting for public examinations such as Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
“We haven’t yet seen the MoH guidelines for reopening schools. I am more in favour of reopening classes for students who will be sitting for examinations like UEC.
“The rest of the classes can join them much later,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post here today.
He was asked whether the board had received the guidelines from MoH to allow schools and teachers to make appropriate preparations for school reopening.
Education Minister Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said detailed guidelines for the movement of students in the school compound, from the time they arrived until they left for home, would be distributed tomorrow.
Wee said the board would definitely adhere to the guidelines issued by the MoE towards ensuring the safety of students and teachers.
Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president Macky Joseph said students and teachers, most probably Form Five and Six, would have to embrace the new norm when they were allowed to go back to school.
He said the size of a classroom would have to be reduced to half given the existing standard operating procedure (SOP) of one-metre social distancing.
“Before this, classrooms had 35 students but in the new norm, that must be reduced. In the context of social distancing, the most is 16 to 17 students (per class).
“We will wait for the proper planning (guidelines) to comply with the new norm in school,” he said.
Macky said STU “highlights self-obedient and self-disciplined to tackle it all”, adding that both students and teachers had to be on alert while taking precautions to avoid any Covid-19 infections.