KUALA LUMPUR: Educational non-governmental organisations (NGOs) welcome the revised Covid-19 containment strategy, which allows students preparing for major examinations to attend school.
They said the two-week Movement Control Order (MCO) for five states and three federal territories, as well as Conditional MCO and Recovery MCO in other states, would allow school administrators to supervise students better.
National Parent-Teacher Association president Associate Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Ali Hassan said it would provide time for schools to plan ahead should other students be allowed to resume their activities.
"Schools should not be pressured; they should be allowed to make decisions based on the facilities available and their level of preparedness.
"Subsequently, the other students would be allowed to attend school, but it should be done gradually. In addition, a three-day alternate school roster could be imposed on the lower and upper secondary students.
"This period would be a good time to educate students on the new norms, starting with those in Form Five. This 'kita jaga kita' mentality would be practised beyond the school premises," he said when contacted.
Ali said he hoped educators, including school teachers, would be given priority for Covid-19 vaccination, apart from the frontliners.
He said online teaching should also be revamped and cover physical, emotional and spiritual aspects, apart from being used to study school subjects.
National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan said it supported a decision to allow those preparing for examinations to attend school.
"This time around, the schools are more prepared as some have taken steps to improve the level of preparedness. We have already implemented the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) like physical distancing and allowing classrooms to operate at half capacity," he said, adding that he would wait for further details from the Education Ministry.
Pahang Early Childhood Education Association chairman Zubaidah Husain said some employees, including frontliners, were still expected to leave home for work and have to depend on kindergartens and day care centres to look after their children.
"If we follow the existing SOP, those under the MCO will have to close, while others under CMCO and RMCO can still operate.
"We'd like to find out more details on this. Many operators had to shut down their business during the MCO last year, while others are still struggling to recover since then," she said.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin earlier announced an MCO to be imposed on Selangor, Penang, Melaka, Johor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan; RMCO on Perlis and Sarawak; with other states put under CMCO from Wednesday.