IPOH, June 23 — The reopening of pre-schools and kindergartens will not be postponed as working parents have no other place to send their children, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said today.
Dr Mah said this when asked to respond to the National Union of the Teaching Profession’s (NUTP) suggestion to postpone the re-opening from the scheduled July 1.
“We have to understand that parents who are working need to send their children to the pre-schools.
“Therefore, the pre-schools and kindergartens need to be opened as per scheduled,” he told reporters after his working visit to the SMK Main Convent here to inspect the schools’ compliance with the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOP).
Dr Mah also said that the government will help pre-schools and kindergartens that have problems in re-opening their facilities.
Yesterday, NUTP president Aminudin Awang said most pre-schools and kindergartens were not prepared for operations due to the constraints on infrastructure to meet the SOP set by the government.
“The facilities at each pre-school are different, for instance, some have two classes, and when implemented, social distancing will create such problems as not being able to support the number of pupils,” he said.
Nearly all business activities have been allowed to resume under the current recovery movement order (RMCO) after the country was effectively shut down for two months starting March 18 to contain the spread of Covid-19.
