QuickCheck: Must non-exam year students who returned home for the CNY holidays continue home-based learning?

A RECENT announcement was made by Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin that non-exam year students who returned home for the Chinese New Year holidays will not be allowed back to their boarding schools and will be continuing with home-based learning.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

Radzi said the measure was needed to keep the learning environment safe for students who will be sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations in February and March.

Many parents took their children back home, for holidays and for other activities over the holidays, he said, adding that as such, parents should keep their children at home if they show Covid-19 symptoms instead of sending them to school.

"This is important for us to ensure that the school environment is safe and we can reduce the risk of infection in schools," he added on Feb 5 in a video on his Facebook.

The ministry has increased its monitoring in schools to ensure standard operating procedure compliance and reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading, he said, adding that most of the Covid-19 clusters involving institutions under the Education Ministry were in boarding schools.

He said 84 out of the 96 education clusters that happened in institutions under the ministry were from boarding schools.

On Feb 3, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said there are 190 active education clusters at the moment.

References:

1. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/02/06/home-based-learning-for-those-who-travelled-during-cny

2. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/02/03/covid-19-watch-not-a-single-education-cluster-resulted-in-a-category-4-or-5-infection-says-khairy