DUNGUN (Bernama): Face-to-face school sessions involving 47,000 students in Terengganu, Kelantan and Langkawi on Sunday (Oct 3) went smoothly, says Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

       He said overall, schools successfully complied with the stipulated procedures and guidelines to prevent Covid-19 infection, including ventilation of classrooms which had been emphasised by the ministry earlier.

       “The ventilation in almost all classes is at the optimum level and students and teachers are wearing facemasks.

       “Everything is going well, including the rotation system. As we announced before, only half the students will be in the classroom while the rest will be studying at home.

       "This will allow (those in class) to maintain physical distancing. We also hope the admission and dispersal of students will be done in an orderly manner,” he told reporters after observing the face-to-face school session at SM Sains Dungun here.

       Radzi also visited several other schools including SMK Sultan Sulaiman in Kuala Terengganu; SM Agama Marang; and SMK Tengku Intan Zaharah in Dungun.

       On a related matter, Radzi said more than 80% of Form Five and Six students nationwide had received the Covid-19 vaccine.

       He said in general, the vaccination process for Form One to Form Five students was going well and the number of vaccine recipients in this group had increased quickly.

       “Almost all Form Five and Six students have been inoculated. Now, (the vaccination process) is being implemented in stages. Some will be done in schools like SMK Sultan Sulaiman (Kuala Terengganu) which is a vaccination centre for two schools,” he said.

       On a related development, Radzi said the decision not to allow some 2,000 teachers who refused to be vaccinated to conduct face-to-face lessons would not affect the teaching and learning sessions either in school or at home.

       “We have identified their schools and the subjects they teach.

       "Therefore, when I said there is a huge possibility of them being transferred out, it does not mean that they can conduct face-to-face lessons in the other school. No.

       “There are cases where almost all teachers who teach the same subject refuse to be vaccinated. That is why we decided that these teachers need to be transferred to ensure that the posts are not affected.

       "For now, these teachers are given other tasks,” he said. – Bernama