2021 School Term To Start On 20 January, Says Education Minister
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The new school term for 2021 will start on 20 January instead of the first week of the month, said Education MInister Radzi Jidin.
He explained that the decision was made after taking into account the effects of the Movement Control Order (MCO) after the outbreak of Covid-19.
Based on this new date, we will open (school) much later than usual. The school calendar for 2020 has been amended by maximising the duration of school days and reducing the year-end holidays.
Education Minister Radzi Jidin via Borneo Post
Due to the pandemic, even the yearly SPM and STPM examinations have been postponed to the first quarter of 2021.
He said the reduction in the year-end holidays was so that students won’t be left behind in their studies as the implementation of teaching and learning (PdP) through home-based learning methods was not effective.
If they cannot cope with this year’s lessons, they may lose motivation and not be able to catch up next year.
Besides being new for students and teachers alike, online learning might be a luxury for many as based on a study conducted by the Ministry from 28 March to 2 April.
He said that only 6% of students own personal computers; laptops (9.3%); tablets (5.8%) and almost half or 46.5% have a smartphone.
The study also found that there are still 36.9% of schoolchildren who don’t have smart devices to follow these online courses.
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