KUALA LUMPUR: The reopening of schools nationwide will be done in stages starting Oct 3.
Education Minister Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin in a Facebook video post today, announced the delay in reopening and clarified that the process would begin in October, for students in their exam years, namely Form Five and Form Six.
He said this was only applicable to schools in the states which have transitioned into the second phase of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
"States which are still in Phase 1 of the NRP cannot reopen until they transition into the second phase," he said, reassuring parents that students' safety is the ministry's utmost priority.
"On July 17, when we announced that the reopening of schools in stages would start on Sept 1, we also mentioned that it would depend on the Health Ministry's recommendation and risk assessment.
"We must make sure that the overall education ecosystem is fully prepared and there is minimal risk for all our children when we reopen schools," he said.
Radzi said reopening of schools would involve mass movement involving five million students, 500,000 teachers and support workers nationwide, thus proper preparations were needed before all schools can be reopened.
"For instance in the third phase, NSC's SOPs allow all schools to reopen but there is still a clause where the Health Ministry must conduct a risk assessment together with all the other ministries involved before making a decision. This is to ensure that it is indeed safe for children and teachers to go back to face to face classes, depending on the situation at the time," he said.
He said the present uncertain and volatile Covid-19 situation in the country made it hard for all quarters to give a definite answer on schools reopening.
"Any decision has to be made upon risk assessment by all ministries and the NSC.
"We have to look at it state by state because some states have good statistics and vaccination rates, for instance Labuan and Sarawak. In these states, the risk assessment may be low, allowing schools to open up faster compared to states which are still in the Phase 1 of the NRP," he stressed.
Radzi also added 92.4 percent of teachers and 72.4 percent of school support workers such as cleaners, bus drivers and canteen workers have so far received at least one dose of the vaccine.