January or March? Parents’ groups divided over school year

 

Schools reopened in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor yesterday, and in the other states today. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: As parents begin taking their children to school to start the new academic year, a question mark remains about whether schools should reopen in January, as in the days before Covid-19.

Two parents’ groups had differing views on whether to revert to a January start or continue with the change to March, as in the past two years, after Covid-19 lockdowns disrupted the school calendar.

Mak Chee Kin, head of a parents’ group in Melaka, said the education ministry should “adjust the school year back to January the soonest” by cutting down on unnecessary activities.

Mak said one option would be for additional classes to be held on Saturdays.

However, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, who heads another parents’ group, said parents “should not be in a hurry” to push for a January start.

She said schoolchildren must first reach the level required of them before they progress to the next standard.

“It cannot be ignored that there has been learning loss post-Covid, and it still exists as the gap has not been bridged,” she said. “Bringing forward the academic year should be a gradual process.”

The head of a consultative council of national parent-teacher associations said that as the March start was only recently introduced, “more time” was needed before reverting the start of the academic year to January.

This will allow children to catch up on lessons lost after the pandemic disrupted their studies.

The council’s president, Ali Hasan, said one reason the education ministry would have considered when deciding not to return to a January start was the monsoon season.

Last week, director-general of education Pkharuddin Ghazali said the ministry has no plans to begin the new school year in January.

He also said school competitions, celebrations and ceremonies that have no significant impact on schoolchildren would not be held.

The 2023-2024 school year began in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Johor yesterday, while schools elsewhere reopen today. - FMT