By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 18: Parents or guardians who are sending their children to childcare centres and kindergartens must check-in via the MySejahtera app so that the Hotspot Identification Dynamic Engagement (Hide) system can send out early warnings on Covid-19 hotspot areas.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development (KWKPK) Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said such measures were emphasised in the enhanced standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the implementation of Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) from May 17 to June 7.
“By checking in through MySejahtera, the authorities can notify the parents or guardians if they happen to be within 15km radius from a Covid-19 hotspot, for instance.
“With this sort of notification, parents would be able to remain on guard and avoid going to those hotspots and subsequently, lower the risk of infection to the children and operators of the childcare centres and kindergartens,” she said after conducting an inspection visit to three IPAKKs around Kuching today.
She mentioned that by checking-in through the MySejahtera app, it would also hasten the registration process as well as facilitate contact tracing if any Covid-19 positive cases were detected.
Additionally, the operators need to ensure that only parents and guardians with ‘Low Risk’ status are allowed to send their children to the premises.
“We want parents to follow the SOPs too because we want to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission. In order to achieve that, we need the cooperation of all because the parents are also exposed to the risk of infection when they socialise with the community or go to public places,” she added.
Elaborating on the operation of the early childhood education institutions (IPAKKs), she said parents need not to worry as the operators would give their very best in ensuring that SOP is strictly complied with at all times.
“The teaching staff and nannies have been tasked to monitor the SOP compliance by both the parents and children including having their temperatures taken, washing hands properly with sanitiser and so on.
“Upon entering the class, the children seem to have developed a sense of understanding that they can no longer have any physical contact with their peers. Nonetheless, the educators must continue to ensure that physical distancing is practiced at all times during teaching sessions,” she said.
Fatimah also mentioned that despite all childcare centres, kindergartens and nurseries in Sarawak are allowed to operate during the implementation of CMCO from May 17 onwards, an approval from the Ministry is still necessary for the purpose of monitoring.
The operators must inform the Ministry’s Early Childhood Development Division prior to their operations via http://bit.ly/maklumatipakk.
To date, the Ministry has received a total of 184 applications. — DayakDaily
