pic by TMR FILE

THE Ministry of Education (MoE) will provide Covid-19 self-test kits to schools when they reopen to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the school compound.

Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin (picture) said Covid-19 tests will be done three times for students in boarding schools namely during registration, on the sixth and 14th day of classes.

For daily boarding school, Covid-19 screening will be conducted only during registration while other schools will be equipped with self-test kits for testing if the students show symptoms while in school compound.

“MoE will bear the cost for these self-test kits in boarding schools and other schools nationwide,” he said during his wind-up speech in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Meanwhile as at Sept 20, 2021, Mohd Radzi said 90.5% of teachers, 85.8% of Implementation Team Members (AKP) and 79.2% supporting services staff are fully vaccinated, while 7.2% teachers, 11.4% AKP and 15.1% support staff are waiting for their second jab.

He added that some 2,100 teachers have chosen to not get vaccinated.

“We will ensure teachers who are yet to be fully vaccinated or refused to get the shots will not conduct physical classes upon school reopening,” he said.

When asked by Padang Serai MP M Karupaiya if the responsibilities of those who refused to get jabbed will fall onto vaccinated teachers, Mohd Radzi said they will be given other tasks based on the schools’ needs.

To ensure a seamless operation of schools once they reopen, Mohd Radzi said MoE has prepared Guidelines for School Management and Operation 3.0 as a reference for state education department, district education office, administrators and teachers.

“The guideline also emphasises on the ventilation aspects in classes and the wearing of face masks for all school staff to ensure optimum safety in school compounds,” he said.

Responding to queries on the 150,000 laptop distribution for school children, the minister said a total of 112,356 laptops have been distributed as at Sept 20, 2021 to B40 students from 910 schools nationwide.

Meanwhile 16,577 units have been received from Yayasan Hasanah, the secretariat for the initiative, and will be distributed to students soon.

“The remaining 21,067 units will be distributed once we receive them from Yayasan Hasanah,” he said.

The ministry aims to complete the distribution of all laptops by the end of this month.

He added that the ministry has also provided broadband Internet services with speeds of 30megabytes per second (Mbps) and 100Mbps to 10,214 schools.

This includes 141 schools in rural areas that have received very small aperture terminals with a speed of 30Mbps since March.