She said the state Disaster Management Committee had made the decision after considering that many working parents, especially frontliners and those in essential services had no choice but to send their children to their relatives’ homes or some unregistered childcare centres.

“Some sent their children to their parents, relatives or even to unregistered childcare centres, where the risk of Covid-19 infection is high as we can’t monitor them for SOP compliance,” she told reporters here today.

Fatimah said childcare centres and kindergartens in Kuching or in red zones were allowed to resume operation, however, they have to apply for permission from the ministry.

“As for Perpaduan and Kemas kindergartens, we will discuss it with the National Security Council as they are registered under a federal agency, that is the education department,” she said, adding there were over 2,000 such preschools and kindergartens in Sarawak.

Fatimah also said online classes do not work well for young children without the presence of their parents, stating it was ineffective and would affect the children’s learning process.