The Malaysian Insight

WITH minors now eligible for Covid-19 shots,  concerned groups such as parents feel much safer sending their children to school despite the high number of clusters stemming from educational institutions.

They told the Malaysian Insight that their children’s safety is further ensured by the fact that schoolgoers are separated in groups, which leaves room for physical distancing in classrooms.

Parent Action Group for Education chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said with the vaccination for children now going on, the number of school clusters should begin to drop.

“Schools should remain open,” she said, adding that it is a parental choice to send children to school.

To date, the Health Ministry has detected 52 Covid-19 clusters in various educational institutions since the beginning of the year.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said complacency and lack of adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP) resulted in an increase in cases among students, especially those in boarding schools.

Khaled Emdad, 31, an executive marketing manager and parent from Subang Jaya, told The Malaysian Insight he will not hold back from sending his children to school.

The father of four said after two years of living with the coronavirus, schools should by now have and be able to implement appropriate SOP and guidelines to minimise possible infections.

“Covid-19 is not going to go away anytime soon,” he said.

“So when do we say: ‘Okay that’s it! We are going to learn to live with it!’?

“At the current rate, I will still send my kids to school but will strongly request that parents and teachers be extra cautious, especially parents.

“If your child shows any kind of symptom, please keep him or her at home and not put others at risk.”

Khairy has said Putrajaya will review the Covid-19 SOP in schools following the increasing number of education clusters.

He said so far, no categories 4 and 5 (severe Covid-19) cases has been detected in schools.

“We ask that the risk assessment be done by schools. Hybrid teaching-and-learning could be implemented but only for affected classes, not the whole school,” he said.

Khairy said any further school closures will affect the students’ education and wellbeing.

Intan Shafinaz, 27, a telemarketer manager and mother to three from Subang Jaya, said while she is not completely without worries about sending her children to school, she has no other choice as she is working and the government’s schooling from home programme, or home-based online learning, does not help her children much.

“So I prefer them to go to school and since my kids have now received their first dose, I am a bit relieved,” she said.

The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children kicked off on February 3 in the Klang Valley.

The Health Ministry announced that 517,107 children between the ages of five and 11 had been registered for their shots.

An estimated four million children aged five to 11 are eligible to receive the vaccine.

The rollout for children is being carried out on a voluntary basis and no restrictions will be imposed on unvaccinated children.

Grace Sun, a housewife with two children from Petaling Jaya, said because the government divides students in groups A and B, she feels much safer to send her children to school.

“I feel relaxed when I send them to school as there is no crowd,” she said.

Vanshika, a mother of two, however, said her son had been attending school since January 3 as his school had good SOP practices.

“However, since the Chinese New Year holidays and the rise in infection numbers, it has become so horribly scary. So I am opting for him to do online classes,” the Puchong resident said.

“His safety comes first.”

Last month, Khairy said nearly 580,000 children aged 18 and below have been infected with Covid-19 since the epidemic started in the country.

He said of the total, 269,773 involved children between the ages of five and 11.

In the past six months, 147,282 Covid-19 cases were reported among unvaccinated children between the ages of five and 11, of which 26 have died.

Last week alone, 3,557 children were infected with the virus, and this makes up 9.9% of the total Covid-19 cases logged within the period.

Malaysia yesterday recorded 13,944 fresh infections, with the majority of cases involving the Omicron variant and mostly in the non-severe categories. – February 9, 2022.