No, the government isn't studying another shoe colour switch in schools

Social media has been abuzz about the government possibly considering switching back from black shoes to white ones but the Education Ministry says this isn't the case.

The misunderstanding arose after the "Friends of Maszlee Malik" Facebook page shared an Education Ministry circular and claimed there would be a "review" (kaji balik) of the black shoe policy in schools.

The Facebook post has since been deleted, but the claim was picked up by certain news outlets.

When contacted, an Education Ministry spokesperson said the government was conducting a study on the status of implementation (kajian pelaksanaan) and not a review of the policy.

"It is not a review. We are just doing a survey to get feedback from schools and students since the implementation of black shoes.

"The Education Ministry wants to get data on the implementation of black shoes in schools.

"The schools will need to fill in a survey on the implementation by Jan 31," the spokesperson told Malaysiakini.

According to the circular dated yesterday addressed to all state education directors, it asked schools to fill in a survey.

Apart from the technical details of the schools, the survey only had three questions, namely the number of total students, the number of students wearing black shoes and the number of students wearing white shoes.

The switch from white to black shoes began in 2019 and is being implemented by phases until 2021. - Mkini