KUALA LUMPUR: The public has urged the authorities to re-examine wide-scale reopening of schools, following the emergence of Covid-19 cases and clusters in the facilities which reopened last week.
Shia Shuk Wah Sophia said the Education Ministry was "not thinking wisely" by reopening all the schools at the same time.
"In Malaysia, our schools are very packed with students just like my school, it has 1,000 plus students. The best thing to do is to do a rotation attendance for students from different standards or forms, rather than everybody coming to school at the same time.
"My school's attendance is nearly 95 per cent so you can imagine how packed the school is with the students and teachers. No matter how we want to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP), it is not easy as there are too many pupils.
"So I guess the ministry should rethink the plan carefully," she said on Facebook.
Linda Madden said adhering to the SOP would not cut it as reopening schools on this scale was a disaster in the making.
"What is everyone thinking? If the kids' parents are infected and then they spread it in the schools, you think a mask and cleaning your hands once in a while is all it takes to keep the kids safe???
"How is a single teacher in a class of 20 or 30 going to make sure everyone follows the SOP at all times?
"Close the schools until all the adults have been vaccinated! It's a disaster waiting to happen to our children," she posted on Facebook.
Gayatri Devi Chellapan said parents would keep sending their children to school until quarantines are confirmed; and such situations would recur at the expense of all.
"Imagine: every time there is a suspected case, the affected class or teacher would need to be quarantined. There won't be any class for the students who have no online option and the same goes for the teacher.
"If this happens too often, what is the purpose of reopening schools? Due to this, most parents will keep sending kids to school unless it's confirmed they need to quarantine them."
Simon Lee, however, urged parents to be responsible while urging authorities to compound those who were lax.
"As a parent, you do not allow your children to attend school if; the child is unwell or there are family members living in the household who are sick or whose status is still unconfirmed.
"Or even if there were instances where the child had close contact with a Covid-19 positive patient.
"Be a responsible parent and the school will be safe. What happened here is that we have parents who send their children to school despite these circumstances. The government should trace them and fine them," he said on social media.
Some said the recent cases from schools were expected.
Clarence Bak said the distances between tables were insufficient due to limited space.
"The pupils would remove their masks despite being reminded by teachers countless times. Risk is present during recess when everyone removes their mask to eat," he said on a social media thread.
Sariyah Ismail said this was a never-ending cycle.
"Parents cannot 'tahan' (stand) kids at home, stressed and all sorts of excuses. So, memekak dgn KPM (they shout at the education ministry) and they being penakut (scared) and under pressure, bukak sekolah (open schools).
"Then ada kes (there are cases), and parents juga yang memekak suruh tutup (When cases occur, the same parents will clamour for schools to be closed). Then we start the cycle again," she said on Facebook.
The NST reported yesterday about a petition on change.org registered by an SK Subang Jaya parent on Monday after four students were infected with Covid-19.
The affected teachers and classrooms were subsequently closed. The petition, which so far gathered 452 signatories is urging authorities to close the entire afternoon session.
A parent also came on record to say his son and another 13 students from a school in Kajang were barred from taking two of their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia exams this week when a classmate was positive for Covid-19.