KUCHING, June 4 — Only childcare centres (taska) will be allowed to reopen after June 9 in Sarawak while kindergartens will remain closed.

Sarawak Minister of Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Child Development, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the decision, taken by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), was also in line with the Federal Government’s decision to allow childcare centres to resume operations from June 2.

She said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for childcare centres in the state were ready and almost similar to the ones issued by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry at the federal level. 

"The SOPs include sanitisation of all premises, safe distancing, no group activities, body temperature checks before entering the premises and so on,” she told reporters after a ceremony to present yearly grants to childcare centre and kindergarten operators in Petra Jaya here today.

As for face masks, Fatimah said children at childcare centres will be exempted from wearing them as the SOP only applies for adults, adding that teachers and parents would also have to fill up health declaration forms.

In total, there are 236 childcare centres and 2,877 kindergartens operating in Sarawak, Fatimah said, adding that the state government will be drafting SOPs for the reopening of kindergartens soon.

She also said that some 2,853 childcare centres and kindergartens had applied for the RM5,000 yearly grant of which approvals have been given to 2,791 of them. — Bernama