KLANG: The list of schools that have yet to resume physical class sessions due to floods will be updated every Wednesday, says Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin (pic).

       “Every Wednesday, we will update the list, and when these schools are removed from the list, meaning on Sunday or Monday (the next week), they can reopen based on whether they fall into Group A or B (states).

       “At the same time, it will depend on the flood situation. Schools can reopen but when floodwaters rise, these schools must automatically close... and initial steps will be taken, especially to inform parents (of the closure),” he told reporters after visiting SK Meru, Kapar, here yesterday in conjunction with the reopening of schools in Selangor for the third term session for 2021/2022.

       Schools in states where Sunday is the first working day of the week come under Group A while Group B involves states where Sunday is a rest day.

       Radzi said four million primary and secondary school students nationwide began the session involving 1.2 million students from Group A on Sunday, and 2.8 million students in Category B yesterday, reported Bernama.

       He said in Selangor, 264,201 secondary school and 446,816 primary school students, including preschoolers, have started school.

       Following his visit to SK Meru, one of the recent flood-affected schools, Radzi said he asked the State Education Department and District Education Office to look into the needs of any of the affected facilities to ensure they have adequate furniture and equipment.

       “If there is not enough furniture, we will bring excess furniture from other schools or other states,” he said.

       On the new teacher exchange and placement management system (e-GTukar) which allegedly had limited exchange options, Radzi said his ministry would always improve the system to enable it to remain at optimum level.

       “We will continually study approaches that can be used to improve the system.

       “We take into account the views (of teachers) on the choice of being given three states (for exchanges involving states) and where they are forced to pick three states when they only want to move to one state.

       “The same goes for transfers involving the District Education Office and so on,” he added.

       He said for interstate exchanges, even if only one District Education Office was specified for each state, the system would see which District Education Office was closest to the one chosen by the applicant.