Chin and her children, Daniel (left) and Unico (right).
KOTA KINABALU: Chinese schools in the state capital are well prepared to reopen on January 20 with strict compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) but parents may not be ready to send their children back to school in light of the spike in Covid-19 cases in Sabah.
Having been through the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional MCO (CMCO) phases, Kota Kinabalu SJK(C) Headmasters Council chairman Tai Nyit Wun said schools were ready to reopen.
“We are prepared to reopen. The seating arrangement in classrooms are in compliance with physical distancing, meals have to be preordered from canteens, while there are activities which are allowed and disallowed in schools,” he said.
However, Tai, who is the headmaster of SJK(C) Chung Hwa Kota Kinabalu, said he was awaiting instruction from the Ministry of Education (MOE) as to whether schools in Covid-19 red zones would be allowed to reopen.
Even if schooling resumes, he is uncertain whether parents would send their children to school as the number of Covid-19 in Sabah keeps increasing.
He recalled low attendance rate when schools reopened back in July last year, where only 40 to 50 percent of students returned to schools.
“I do hope that schools could reopen because there will be a new batch of pupils (Year 1).”
Tai said parents could stick to online learning if they decided not to send their children back to school for the time being, even though it might not be a conducive learning environment compared to face-to-face.
“Not all parents could stay at home to coach their children as they have to work, or they may not have the facilities,” he said.
Besides, he said pupils may not be able to keep up with so many subjects via online learning, given that there were 10 to 11 classroom sessions for five to six subjects from 7.10am to 12.30pm a day.
On the expected attendance rate, Tai said the figure would have to wait until schools reopen.
Meanwhile, Chin Shuk Wei, a mother of two, said she would stick with online learning for the time being for fear of her children contracting Covid-19.
To ensure her children, Daniel Ang and Unico Ang, could keep up with their studies, she has been sending them to tuition from Monday to Friday even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“My son (Daniel) will be entering Year 1 this year. I am worried that he may lag behind in his studies. He is going for tuition during the holidays as well to prepare him for Year 1.
“My daughter (Unico) is entering Year 2 this year,” she said, adding that both her children are enrolled in SJK(C) Shan Tao.
Chin said her children would be more inclined to concentrate in their learning when they were taught by their tuition teacher, as they might not behave at home.
“I would download and print the learning materials provided by the school from Google Classroom and bring them to tuition.”
She said there has been no news from school yet as to whether parents could still opt for online learning.
Nonetheless, Chin expressed her concern in the rising number of Covid-19 cases, which she believed was the result of relaxing the restrictions during the CMCO phase.