Schools to resume from July 15
This follows a series of dry runs on implementing new SOPs as safeguards against Covid-19.
PUTRAJAYA: Schools nationwide will reopen beginning July 15, with primary students from Year One to Four to resume classes a week after that, Education Minister Radzi Jidin announced today.
This comes a week after Form Five and Six students went back to school as part of the gradual resumption of classes based on SOPs implemented by health authorities.
Schools in the country have been closed since the first-term holidays on March 14 due to the movement control order imposed on March 18.
“The education ministry has decided that students in Form One to Form Four and Year Five to Year Six will resume classes on Wednesday, July 15,” said Radzi in a press conference today.
“Meanwhile, students from Year One to Year Four will resume school on Wednesday, July 22.”
Schools reopened today for preschools and kindergartens. Classes began on June 24 for Form Five and Six students sitting for major government examinations.
The education ministry last month said it would implement a one-metre gap between desks when schools eventually reopen, with surplus students placed in other classes.
Other measures outlined in the ministry’s 34-page guideline for the reopening of schools include temperature screening before entering the school compound, eating in the classrooms during recess in order to prevent overcrowding at canteens, and the provision of an isolation room for students who show Covid-19 symptoms to avoid the risk of transmission to others.
Radzi said due to capacity restrictions, classes will resume for primary and secondary students based on three models to ensure strict compliance with the SOPs.
The first model is for schools which have enough classes or space to place all their students in one session after taking into account social distancing.
The second model will allow schools to operate in two sessions (morning and afternoon).
The third session is for schools which do not have enough space to accommodate students in two sessions and will see their students taking turns to come to school.
Form Five and Six students will have to attend classes every day under this model, while students in Form One to Four will attend school in turns, according to their class.
While schools have been allowed to formulate their own schedules, Radzi said priority would be given to those sitting for their SPM next year.
The ministry will release information on the models each school will be employing a week before classes resume.
Radzi also said that teachers who will have to teach classes in the mornings and afternoons will be following flexible schedules so they can clock in later in the morning.
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