KUCHING, July 14: The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has decided that the reopening of all secondary and primary schools in urban Kuching will be postponed for two weeks.
The schools affected are those located within the jurisdiction of Kuching South City Council and Kuching North City Council.
The decision was made during a meeting this morning which SDMC held with stakeholders involving in primary and secondary school education.
The State Education Department decided to push back the reopening of schools which was originally scheduled for tomorrow (July 15) over concerns of new Covid-19 infections due to local transmission in the city over the past week.
In an interview with SarawakFM today, SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said that there should not be a problem for schools in the green zone to reopen.
“Most importantly, all schools must comply with standard operating procedures (SOPs), observe social distancing, as well as reduce the number of students in schools with smaller capacities,” he advised.
Meanwhile, Sarawak United Association of Private Chinese Secondary School Management Boards deputy chairman Datuk Richard Wee pointed out that delaying the reopening of schools was the right thing to do considering the spike in new Covid-19 cases.
“Such measures needed to be taken in order to prevent the second wave of outbreak and allow further actions to be taken to properly control the spread of the coronavirus,” he told DayakDaily when contacted today.
In fact, Wee added, the decision also coincided with the association’s decision on delaying the full resumption of school sessions as parents are still worried.
“Even if the delay in reopening is not announced, many private schools in Kuching including Lodge School and St Joseph Private have already planned to postpone reopening as well.
“Parents are still very much worried about sending their children to school, more so now that there are new infections in the city. What’s most important is the safety of students.
“Since schools have been closed for three months, there won’t be much difference (if they stayed close) for another two weeks,” he added. — DayakDaily
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