PETALING JAYA, Feb 7 (Sin Chew Daily) — National Union of Heads of Schools president Lim Bee Khim urges the health and education ministries to reassess the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and reconsider online or hybrid learning models to minimize the risk of infection among students.

She told Sin Chew Daily there is problem with some schools conducting online lessons due to lack of facilities, and if some schools cannot fully adopt the online learning model, perhaps the education ministry can explore the possibility of allowing students to go back to school on rotation basis, especially for larger classes with 30 to 40 students, adding that such a measure should minimize the risk of infection.

“If the health and education ministries think it is not safe for students to go back to school, I basically agree that all students should go on home learning.

“We hope when the parents come back from their hometowns after the holidays, they will conduct self tests first before sending their children back to school. This is the safest way although we know not all parents will do so because of the cost.”

She also said it is understandable that some parents do not feel safe sending their children back to school.

Following the launch of the PICKids immunization program for kids, Lim hoped that parents would register their children for vaccination for additional protection; at least they will not be severely ill in case of infection.

“We know there are many problems with home learning as physical class is somehow still the best solution, but in the face of the coronavirus, we hope parents will extend their full cooperation by making sure their children do the self tests and test negative before sending them back to school to prevent the spread of the virus.”