KUALA LUMPUR: Primary school pupils are allowed to wear reusable face shields, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today in a move to ease the financial burden of poor families having to fork out money for single use face masks.
The Senior Minister (Security Cluster) said the Health Ministry, had in a ministerial meeting today, given the green-light for school-going children under 12 to don the face shields in schools.
Ismail Sabri said he had raised the proposal for the use of face shields because the cost of buying the face masks was "not easy on the pockets" of poor families despite the RM1 ceiling price set by the government.
"I had suggested that we allow face shields for school children, especially those at primary levels, such as in China. Alhamdullilah, after discussing it today, the ministry agreed to allow children under 12 to use the face shield. It will be better if they have the face shield on in addition to wearing the face masks.
"However, the face shield itself serves as a protection. This is to assist pupils from poor families as I was told that it is priced between RM3 and RM5 and it can be reused for months," he said during a press conference at the Parliament today.
Ismail Sabri said the ministry will need to come up with guidelines on the ways to effectively clean the face shields.
The Senior Defence Minister also said the ministerial meeting and the ministry also agreed that it will no longer be compulsory for mosque congregants to bring their own prayer mats (sejadah).
Ismail Sabri said this as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri who raised the concern of Muslims who were barred from entering the mosque as they did not have the prayer mat.
"(Those without the prayer mats) will be allowed into the mosque. However, we still encourage congregants to bring their own prayer mat. Although it is no longer mandatory to bring your own, putting on the face mask is a must. There should be no compromise on this.
"If the management of the mosque wants to provide disposable liners that can be used as prayer mats, we will allow such initiatives.
"This can be done but they must be strict in terms of ensuring one's health and safety. This is also to make it convenient for the congregants," he said, adding that they are also encouraging the sale of face masks at mosque entrances to ensure the compliance Standard Operating Procedures.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said foreigners will be allowed to perform their prayers at mosques from Sept 1 onwards.
He said they will, however, have to register themselves first and that the mosque could decide if they are able to accommodate them.