PETALING JAYA: It was back to school for Level One (Years One, Two and Three) primary school pupils, as well as Forms Three and Four students in secondary schools in the Klang Valley and Melaka.

       However, not all returned for face-to-face lessons yesterday as the Education Ministry only permitted half of a class to be in school while the others were to continue with home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) using a weekly rotation model.

       While it was smooth sailing for those who reported for face-to-face lessons, the others on PdPR needed to manage things on their own, with no active guidance from their teachers on the learning materials provided.

       This is because teachers have to focus on teaching the students present in class and also encourage students to return to school when it is their turn to do so, said National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Wang Heng Suan.

       He said teachers did not face problems conducting both PdPR and face-to-face teaching as a timetable had been set for both, adding that teachers handed tasks or exercises for students slated for PdPR while they conducted physical lessons in school.

       “The students have a PdPR timetable to follow and they need to manage things on their own during this time,” he said, adding that students will get real-time teaching and learning when they return to school.

       He said schools had received requests for teachers to livestream lessons to those at home.

       “We do not allow this because if we do, no one will want to come to school.

       “We want to bring students back to school,” said Wang.

       In September, the Education Ministry introduced a rotation system whereby only half the number of students are allowed to attend school for face-to-face learning, while the other half continued with PdPR.

       Azwan Zar Abd Rashid said his sons’ teachers gave pupils, who are in PdPR rotation, homework through Google Classroom.

       “It seems that teachers will be preparing them this way now. They did not come on Google Meet to teach them like they did before.

       “In a way, it’s less pressure for children as they only have to focus on their homework for the week, which is comparatively lesser than the previous PdPR model.

       “They informed the pupils that they will check on their homework when they enter class next week,” said Azwan, whose sons in Year One and Four are spending the week studying from home.

       Mother-of-two Kangathevi Ponnudorai said her Years Three and Four children are on PdPR rotation as well, adding that they find the new system difficult to follow.

       “They’re finding it tough to complete their homework without their teachers’ guidance as before this, their teachers would be on Google Meet.

       “The platform was good to have. Although they weren’t physically in school, they could at least quickly consult their teachers if they did not understand something,” she added.

       Fong Yit Meng, whose Year Two son went to school yesterday, lamented that he will not have “live” teacher guidance during PdPR next week.

       “Instead, the teacher will upload lessons to Google Classroom and the students learn from there,” he added.

       Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said schools in Melaka had implemented the guidelines –set by the ministry – successfully when he visited several schools in the state yesterday.

       “More than 1.3 million students are in schools across the country today.

       “This figure is much higher than the number of students who returned to schools in the early stages of school operations on Oct 3.”