19 Sept 2019

Govt should give clear directives on school suspensions due to haze

When responding to questions as to whether the government will directly instruct the closure of schools until this weekend to facilitate parents’ planning, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir has a notion that schools do not have to extend the suspension of classes till the weekend due to the current haze conditions. This in itself causes great confusion amongst parents, teachers, and students alike - to whom are they supposed to listen to for official government directives regarding school suspensions in these trying times?

While Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik calls for schools to make their own decisions according to the Air Pollution Index, the Selangor Education Department had issued a directive to stop classes until Saturday. However, Dr Mahathir now says this move is unnecessary. Such conflicting instructions leave the masses perplexed.

Why did the government not communicate with each other first internally and then come out with a unified decision? Parents are already worried about their child’s schooling arrangements; regrettably, the government is still coming up with confusing directives as these.

Cabinet Ministers should have a common message chat group to facilitate coordination and communication between government departments to avoid confusing remarks.

In addition to that, the government should not take the health of students and teachers lightly by deciding on class suspensions on a whim. Instead, they should plan accordingly including whether to hold replacement classes.

The government must also have a uniform way of disseminating information to prevent the situation from turning chaotic when different authorities release different directives.

The government displays gross inadequacy in handling the crisis, and such shortcomings will only aggravate the situation.

However, Selangor had already earlier announced the suspension of classes until Saturday, while Penang had made another announcement.

Nicole Wong Siaw Ting

MCA Youth National Chairperson

-MCA online-