Education Ministry to study need for postponement of school term opening

PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry will examine the need for any school to postpone the third term 2021/2022 opening based on how badly the schools are affected by the floods, says Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

He said at the moment, the Ministry was evaluating the damage of schools infrastructure including computers, furniture and textbooks.

"Generally, we cannot postpone the school session and the MOE is working hard to resolve the issue of schools affected by the floods before the opening of the new session.

"For cases where the condition of the school is showing that it is still not prepared (for opening of the new session) we will take the appropriate action. The matter will be looked at on a case by case basis," he told reporters after officiating a community programme in Putrajaya here on sunday (Dec 26).

At the same time, he appealed to schools to work together with the State Education Department and the District Education Department by listing out the needs of the schools, like furniture and textbooks, to facilitate aid distribution.

Earlier Radzi announced that the third term 2021/2022 school session which was supposed to begin on Jan 2, 2022, for Group A and Jan 3, 2022, for Group B had to be postponed by a week because of the floods.

He said states in Group A comprising Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu would begin school on Jan 9 and Group B comprising Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, on Jan 10.

Radzi added that the MOE would still implement a rotation system for student attendance when the school opens and the details would be announced soon. - Bernama