KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) submitted a letter to Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin yesterday urging him to postpone the reopening of school on Sept 1.
NUTP president Aminuddin Awang said among the justifications for the postponement was the mere 10-week schooling session remaining for the year, from Sept 1 to Dec 11.
He also said the daily Covid-19 cases in the country were high with over 20,000 infections reported recently.
"Based on our observation, many parents will not send their children to schools even though the nation vaccination rate has breached 40 per cent and more than 50 per cent of the target group had already received their first jab.
"This is due to the fact that vaccination cannot guarantee everyone in the school is safe when schools reopen on Sept 1 as the virus has claimed more than 300 lives daily," he told BH today.
Aminuddin said it was worrying thay the current situation had worsened during the closure of schools.
"In this regard, number of cases and the death rate may increase when classrooms are reopened as school administrations cannot control whether students are complying with the standard operating procedures and their activities outside schools."
Hence, he said, NUTP hoped for the government to continue with its free internet aid for B40 students through home-based Teaching and Learning (PdPR) programme.
He said this to ensure such students would not be left behind in education.
"Besides, educators need to be given special internet packages and trainings to improve their skills for PdPR," he said.