After a long period of Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, the rest of the school goers—Primary 1 to Form 4—on 22 July 2020. Students taking public exams this year returned on 24 June 2020; pre-school and kindergarten on 1 July 2020; and Form 6, Form 1 to 4, remove class and Primary 5 to 6 on 15 July 2020.
We are now in the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) phase, which is expected to end on 31 August 2020 if there is no major outbreak again.
I am very impressed by how my children’s schools are handling the students and parents.
Even during MCO, the schools sent videos about Covid-19 precautions.
From earlier on, the children already knew basic defenses – clean your hands regularly with soap and water or sanitiser; maintain at least 1 metre distance from everyone else; and practice coughing and sneezing etiquette.
They also know very well that if you spend your time outside the house in crowded area, especially, you need to shower the moment you reach home.
From my coarse observation, the teachers at my son’s school have been back at work since mid-June.
The moment the school return date was officially announced, the teachers have been sending slide presentation and questionnaires (via Google Forms) to parents. They’ve rescheduled the timetable, rearranged the classrooms and marked the entry/ exit points as well as walking paths. They’ve identified which student will be getting from the canteen and which student will be bringing food from home. They created a system to reduce human and car congestion.
Nobody wants MCO to come back. Nobody enjoyed the online learning phase.
I found out from a parent yesterday (22 July 2020 – Wednesday) that he bought another computer just to cope with the huge amount of homework. He said both and his wife worked together to help with the kids’ school work.
Imagine if this had happened in the 80s or 90s–there would be no work-from-home, no homework for the kids and no stressed out parents. Most people maybe would have enjoyed the long ‘break’!
Marilyn's memo 