Chinese Primary School Boards perturbed schools to reopen on March 8

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KUCHING: Sarawak United Association of Chinese Primary School Boards of Management is shocked by the State Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) decision to reopen schools on Mar 8.

Its president Jonathan Chai said schools were scheduled to reopen on Mar 15 and some parents might find it uncomfortable to send their children back to school at this stage when the state still registered a high number of Covid-19 positive cases daily.

“Anyway, I have directed headmasters of our member schools to strictly adhere to the SOP (standard operating procedures) prescribed by the relevant authorities to ensure the safety and health of the students and teachers.

“Even though the decision may not be well received by certain individuals, I believe the state Education Department and SDMC must have consulted the Ministry of Health in coming to the decision,” he told The Borneo Post when prompted for comments on the SDMC’s decision yesterday.

Chai said he understood that it was always difficult to strike a balance when it came to making a difficult decision like this.

He observed that online learning had not been as effective as it had been hoped for and there were worries that students might not be interested in learning anymore if they continued to be kept at home without the supervision of the teachers.

More importantly, he said parents who were mostly at work would not be able to monitor their children.

“On the other hand, we are also worried that schools could form a cluster of infection if any mishaps occurred because we could not guarantee that all students or their parents are free of the Covid-19 virus,” he added.

SDMC announced that 1,045 government and government-aided schools in Sarawak would resume physical classes on Mar 8, adding that the number included 814 schools which already reopened on Mar 1.

It said the decision was made following a risk assessment done line with the School Management and Operation Guidelines in the New Norm 2.0 by the Ministry of Education.

SDMC added that a total of 220 schools in Covid-19 high risk areas in the state would remain closed until Mar 14.