PETALING JAYA, Sept 8 (Sin Chew Daily) – The education ministry is expected to announce the details on the reopening of schools scheduled on October 3.

Students in Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya still in the first phase of the National Recovery Plan do not need to go back to school, while it is not compulsory for students in other states to go back to their schools from October 3, and parents can choose to let their children carry on with home learning.

However, Form 6 students who will be sitting for the government examination will be given the priority to go back to school.

Senior Minister for Education Datuk Dr. Mohd. Radzi Md. Jidin has recently travelled to Perlis, Labuan and Negeri Sembilan to have dialogues with representatives of parents-teachers associations on the reopening of schools.

According to a participant of the dialogue, even if the schools were to reopen, the ministry would not make it compulsory for all students to go back to their schools.

The source said the ministry might only allow schools in states under the third and fourth phases of NRP to reopen on October 3, while students in other states would continue with home learning.

The education ministry will also draw up strict SOPs (standard operating procedures) for students attending schools, including wearing of face mask throughout class, different time slots for starting and finishing classes and controlling the number of students in each class.