Sin Chew Daily

It has become a heated issue among parents that schools should not reopen next month.

The education ministry announced in mid-July that schools across the country will reopen in stages beginning September 1. The announcement has since sparked tremendous backlash in the Malaysian society.

However, as there was still more than a month from mid-July to early September, the issue was not deemed to be very urgent, and the objection then was not intense.

If over the next one month the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is improving and infection risks remarkably reduced, there shouldn't be a problem to reopen the schools next month.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has not improved but has actually deteriorated. Daily new infection numbers have been recording new highs since the middle of July, breaching the 20,000-mark. How do we expect the parents to allow their children to go back to school and be exposed to the high infection risks?

And now we only have slightly more than half a month before the September school opening date, and many parents have already asked the government to review the decision to reopen schools while there is online petition urging the education ministry to postpone the school reopening date until herd immunity is achieved.

Meanwhile, there are also divergent voices within the educational circle. The National Union of Heads of Schools (KKGGBM) president Lim Bee Khim has said based on the current situation in the country, the union insists that September is not the right time for students to go back to school.

The education ministry has pledged to conduct a survey among parents who have hoped that the ministry will come up with an appropriate decision to ensure the students' health.

The ministry's plan to reopen schools in September has been made from the education perspectives, to ensure the learning progress of students. This is understandable given the fact that the learning progress of many students has been affected due to prolonged periods of online studies since the onset of the pandemic.

Indeed, the effects of online lessons are inferior to actual classroom lessons, and should be used only as an expedient solution in the midst of the raging pandemic. The students should be allowed to go back to their schools again once the situation has improved.

But the thing is, the pandemic has significantly worsened in recent weeks. On Thursday, the country recorded a record of 21,668 new COVID-19 cases. Under such a condition, how is the education ministry going to assure the parents of their children's safety?

Although science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin has promised that all educators will have received at least one dose of the vaccine before the schools reopen, one dose alone will not provide adequate protection at all.

Moreover, even if all the teachers have received both doses of the vaccine, the students' health is still not assured, as they have not yet been immunized. In view of the ravaging pandemic, especially with threats from the Delta variant, we must not expose our students to high infection risks.

As mentioned earlier, online lessons will not be the ultimate solution and the schools cannot remain closed forever.

Perhaps the government should look into the possibility of inoculating our school children.

Israel has already approved to expand the immunization age group to teenagers aged between 12 and 16, while UAE will provide Sinopharm vaccine to children between 3 and 17.

In Malaysia, the government has earlier allowed teenagers between 12 and 17 of age to register for vaccination through the MySejahtera app. However, the plan has been deferred for fear of risks of developing myocarditis and pericarditis among young vaccinee.

Indeed, schools cannot remain closed forever. Ultimately all students will have to go back to the classroom to receive their lessons, which no parents will object. But, given the current scenario, it is obvious that September is just not the right time yet.