KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry need to improve their communication skills before announcing any standard operating procedure (SOP) involving education institutions.
Opposition members of parliament today called on the two ministries to stop issuing confusing instructions, especially regarding the closure of kindergartens.
Former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik (Independent-Simpang Renggam) said the instruction for kindergartens to be closed while childcare centres are allowed to operate was strange.
He said this in relation to the Education Ministry's recent decision for all institutions under the ministry to be closed during the current Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in many states.
For the record, kindergartens are under the purview of the Education Ministry while childcare centres are under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
"Parents have to go to work every day. Some parents have one child in a childcare centre and another in kindergarten. What are they supposed to do?
"And another thing, why is it that kindergartens in Pahang, a green zone state without any active Covid-19 case at all, are not allowed to operate, but childcare centres are allowed?
"Clearly the issue here is the lack of communication between (the two ministries) and the relevant stakeholders," he told reporters at the Parliament building.
Meanwhile, Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) pointed out that kindergartens in Johor are now allowed to operate following instruction from the state Education Department and this, she said, was causing even more confusion among parents and kindergarten operators.
"If we compare to Pahang, until today, despite being a green zone and having no active cases, all the kindergartens there are still closed so this is a 'really good' example they (the two ministries) are showing to us as there is no consistency in SOP and instructions from them."