KUCHING: Malaysian Youth Parliament member Spanski Steven has urged the Education Ministry (MoE) and the State Education Department (JPNS) to consider returning to home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) in view of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.
Noting that the school session was continuing as usual despite the rise in Covid-19 cases nationwide, he pointed out that this was a dangerous situation which risked the health of youths in school.
“Since Jan 20, there have been several cases and increasing numbers (of Covid-19 cases) that occur among school students. There are even schools ordered to shut,” he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
He said if there was a need to reshuffle the exam schedule, it should be done for the good of all.
“I often receive complaints and concerns from parents and students themselves.”
He opined that there was no issue for students to undergo teaching and learning as usual in green zones such as the rural regions of Sarawak, though there must be strict compliance with all standard operating procedures (SOPs).
He said schools in the interior should be safe if managed well, as the concern was high-risk areas or red zones.
“If the teacher is coming from a risky area, they need to undergo mandatory quarantine and swab test. Movement also needs to be strictly controlled as free movement would be a risk for students in the green zones.”
He stressed that proactive measures needed to be taken to provide education in the rural areas due to constraints in technology and internet access, which would make it difficult for teachers to keep up with MoE’s push for digital education.
He said students and teachers in rural areas still lacked access to digital education – “The government needs to focus on this matter more so than forcing teachers to implement it.”
He emphasised that the country’s aspiration to create a bright future through the younger generation needed to be considered at this time.
“How can we look towards a bright future through the younger generation if at this moment we are risking their health and safety? How can we ensure the nation has potential young leaders if we do not take care of them now?”
