Only 17 Students Per Class Allowed When School Reopens, Says Education Minister

In his latest live televised broadcast last night on TV3’s program ‘Soal Rakyat’ (11th May 2020) concerning the current status of education within Malaysia, our Education Minister, Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin, has mentioned that only 17 students will be allowed in each classroom when schools are declared safe to reopen again.

This comes after the Ministry has reportedly conducted trial runs to determine the ideal number of students each classroom will be allowed to fit, in order to ensure that safety distancing measures can be implemented properly. This decision will form part of the mandatory SOPs currently being looked into, which all schools across Malaysia will have to eventually follow.

“While 35 students may be permitted to join a class before this, in this new scenario, we cannot allow that to happen. In the context of social distancing, as many as 16 to 17 students may be permitted to join one class.

In larger schools, this number may rise to 20.” he said.

It is likely that only Form Five and Form Six students who are taking their SPM and STMP examinations will be allowed to return to school, should the dates be announced, ahead of other students. 

A few other options are also being considered by the ministry, with advice from the Ministry of Health, to ensure that when schools reopen the health of students will not be compromised. Canteens operating in schools will also have to adhere to a special set of SOPs, reports Berita Harian. But this has yet to be announced in detail.

At this point in time, there has been no further announcement on when schools will be allowed to formally reopen.

What do you guys think of this? 

Also read: BREAKING: UPSR And PT3 2020 Has Been Cancelled, Moved To 2021