TAMPIN: The Education Ministry (MOE) is in discussion with the Health Ministry on the vaccination of Form Five students to enable them to attend school without rotation, says Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

       The Education Minister said this was after 371,696 Form Five students, or 97%, had received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while 57.9% (142,655) had completed the vaccination.

       “Students have started returning to school and the standard operating procedure has been implemented well.

       “However, we are considering having some groups of students (attend physical classes) on a non-rotational basis.

       “Maybe we can start with Form Five students, too, as is being implemented for students (who would be sitting for) the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination,” he told reporters after visiting SK Tengku Zainun here yesterday.

       Radzi said a total of 339,951 students had been allowed to attend physical classes in the states that have moved into Phase Four of the National Recovery Plan, namely Negri Sembilan, Labuan and Langkawi, beginning Sunday and yesterday.

       The MOE had previously announced that schools in Phase Four states will be reopened involving Level 1 (Years 1, 2 and 3) primary school pupils, as well as Form Three and Form Four students in secondary schools on Nov 1.

       Attendance for Level 2 (Years 4, 5 and 6) primary school pupils, as well as those in remove classes, Form One and Form Two for secondary school students will begin on Nov 8.In the meantime, Radzi said the implementation of the rotational face-to-face classes and home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) sessions were running smoothly.

       He said through PdPR, teachers would inform students about the preparations that needed to be done before attending their face-to-face classes the following week.

       “When students come to school the following week, teachers will look at the topics their students failed to understand during the PdPR sessions and help them with that,” he said.

       In Bangi, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin said the Covid-19 vaccination rate among school students had reached 86.9% as at Sunday.

       He said the figure was cited for those who had received at least one dose of the vaccines.

       “The figure increases every day because the students understand the importance of taking the vaccines, especially as they return to school.“As at Sunday, almost 30% have received both doses,” he said after visiting SK Seksyen 7.

       Mohamad also said that while parents had the right to choose not to send their children back to school, he encouraged them to.

       “Don’t worry as all preparations have been taken into consideration in preparing for students’ return and SOP are in place.

       “I encourage parents to send their children to school,” he added.