KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry will supply saliva-based Covid-19 self-test kits to all schools nationwide, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Senior Minister (Education) Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said the test kits would be supplied to full boarding schools, daily boarding schools and daily schools.
"For full boarding schools, students are required to undergo three Covid-19 self-tests, while students going to daily boarding schools only need to be tested once.
"As for daily schools, the self-test kits are for standby in case any student shows symptoms while in school. They can be tested and quickly isolated," Radzi said in his winding up speech on the motion of thanks on the Royal Address.
He was responding to an interjection by Datuk Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol), who asked about the ministry's action to help the needy or poor students who require to be tested before returning to school.
Radzi also said students who were already showing symptoms were not allowed to come to school.
Meanwhile, the Dewan Rakyat was also told that the Public Service Department (PSD) would decide whether to take action against the 2,100 teachers who refused vaccination and reiterated that unvaccinated teachers would not be teaching physical classes.
"Teachers are civil servants, so we will follow PSD guidelines on this.
"(Unvaccinated teachers) will be given other duties based on the current situation in their respective schools," he added.