By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Sept 13: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Women asserts that only teachers and students who are vaccinated against Covid-19 should be allowed to attend physical classes.
Its chief Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie opined vaccinating school children will allow them to go back to school. However, only vaccinated students should attend physical classes when schools reopen on October 3 and students must adhere to stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs).
She added those yet to be vaccinated should study from home.
Doris pointed out that the Education Ministry, schools and teachers must find ways and means to include those who cannot attend classes so that they are not left out.
“We note in Sarawak that the Delta variant is most common and it spreads like wild fire. Besides, this variant is also airborne, therefore we think that social distancing will not stop the spread.
“Hence, in our view, splitting students into two groups (and) taking turns to attend classes for instance with applying the 50 per cent or person percentage capacity ruling makes no difference,” she said in a statement.
In the meantime, Doris said PRS Women fully supported the vaccination programme for children aged between 12 to 17 and hoped that the rollout will go smoothly as planned.
On another note, Doris said PRS Women also sought for the relevant authorities to ensure all teachers in Malaysia are fully vaccinated as it was reported earlier that around 1,500 teachers have not been vaccinated.
She opined if those teachers are not vaccinated, they can easily contract Covid-19 and risk infecting their students.
Adding on, Doris urged the Education Ministry to devise a plan for students to catch up in their studies as they have lost over 100 days of classes last year.
She opined that there should be no or reduced school holidays to replace the lost school hours in 2020 and 2021. — DayakDaily
