Back to school: Don't need uniform, just dress decently

Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin, who today outlined the government's plan to reopen schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said students don't have to wear school uniforms when they return to physical classes.

However, he said the clothing they choose must be appropriate, decent, and neat.

"There could be parents seeing their child's uniform has grown tighter after being at home for long, so we say that students can wear any appropriate clothing if they can no longer fit into their uniforms.

"Our intention is to bring the students back to school, not to punish them, and we want to see them back," said Radzi.

He added that the wearing of face masks will be compulsory in schools.

"If they want to double mask, we encourage them to do so.

"For students from a poor family, we will try to supply teachers with face masks to give them in school.

"We will carry out this effort so we can help the students who want to go to school but could not afford to do so," Radzi said.

The resumption of learning in schools is only for the regular curriculum, including physical education.

Co-curriculum activities will remain suspended.

Radzi also asked parents to help ensure that people ferrying their children to schools are vaccinated against Covid-19.

Schools are set to reopen from Oct 3 for states under Phase 3 and 4 while those in Phase 1 and Phase 2 will largely continue e-learning with some exceptions, particularly for exam year students.

At present, states and territories under Phase 3 and 4 of the National Recovery Plan are Negeri Sembilan, Sarawak, and Labuan.

However, the number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak has spiked in the last week and the state government, which has often formulated its own policies, has not indicated yet if it will comply with the federal government's plan.

For now, the state is rolling out a plan to vaccinate teenagers against Covid-19.

Meanwhile, states and territories under Phase 2 are Kelantan, Malacca, Pahang, Perak, Penang, Sabah, Selangor, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya.

Exam year students in these states will be returning to school.

Only Kedah and Johor are still under Phase 1.

• Govt mulls further action against teachers who refuse vaccine

• Schools to reopen in some states from Oct 3, weekly rotation system introduced

• School term for this year extended to March 2022