Parents, teachers want school reopening to be postponed in fear for children’s safety

14 Aug 2021

By Ilona Andrew and Jacquline Ebit

KOTA KINABALU: Several parents and schoolteachers in Sabah insisted that the school reopening which will be done in stages starting Sept 1 should be delayed as they fear for the safety of the schoolchildren with the Covid-19 situation still very alarming at the moment.

To them, despite having somewhat proper Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place, letting the children be inside a school compound is a very big risk.

A parent of an 11-year-old child, Jackson Lo, said he is still traumatised by Covid-19 clusters involving schools and teachers in the state capital that mushroomed instantaneously when school sessions reopened last March.

“My son’s school was one of the many that had to shut down due to Covid-19. I felt like a delinquent parent for sending him to school that time and trusting that all would turn out well.

“I know online home-based learning (PdPR) can be really tough, but I am not going to risk my son’s health again by sending him to school this time,” he told Nabalu News here, today.

For 37-year-old Leah Mansah, she said it was nice seeing her three children aged 8, 9 and 13 feeling excited about the reopening of schools, however, she prefers not to send them to school just yet.

“I think I speak on behalf of the majority of parents with schoolchildren that the MOE should postpone the reopening, especially when stronger Covid-19 variants have been identified in Malaysia.

“Apart from not being able to socialise physically with their friends and teachers, I see no problem for them to just stick with online learning for now.

“I just find it really hard for the government to have proper SOPs in place, to be honest. There should be an evident-based policy but for now, there is none,” Leah explained.

Also demanding for the postponement of school reopening is Jupina Razan, 40, who stated that such an implementation could be disastrous not just to the students, but also to teachers.

“Although most teachers have been vaccinated, it is still best that we stick with PdPR for now because the vaccination may take a while for our body to build the immunisation we require.

“We should also wait until the Covid-19 condition to ameliorate before allowing children to attend school. After all, they have already gotten used to online classes since it has been this way for more than a year.

“It is undeniable that education is crucial, but it is more important to keep our children – our future leaders – healthy and safe,” said the mother of four from Kota Belud.

With the rate of vaccine recipients still very low in Sabah, school reopening should not be rushed, said Moh Ikhwan.

According to him, reopening of schools would easily trigger Covid-19 clusters, especially when schoolchildren have yet to be vaccinated.

“It is true that education is important, but for me, it is best if the government just focus on battling Covid-19 in a comprehensive manner for now.

“When we finally win against Covid-19, schools can reopen without any shilly-shally and students can go back to learning as usual.”

Meanwhile, several teachers are also urging the MOE to delay the school reopening as there appears to be a lack of orderly and strategic planning and implementation by the ministry.

While they very much prefer teaching in physical classes, these teachers admit that the new infection and death rates from Covid-19 are still very much hair-raising.

“As an educator, I feel that the students' health and lives are of the utmost importance and should be prioritised.

“We experienced it before, that schools were shut down in just a few weeks after it reopened back in March. Let’s not repeat the same mistake,” said Siti Noor Ashidah who is a science teacher.

For kindergarten teacher Mary Magdelena, she appraised that the right time for secondary schools to reopen would be in mid-October.

This is because vaccination for those aged 12-17 would begin on Sept 15 and would probably achieve herd immunity by mid-October, she said.

“I believe all parents echo similar urgency which is for the MOE to delay the reopening of schools in fear of their children’s safety,” she stated.

Recently, the ministry announced that schools across the country would resume face-to-face classes in stages from Sept 1.

The ministry said it would continue to take into account risk assessments by the health ministry and the National Security Council.