The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education announced on 4 September that they are planning to allow students of tertiary institutions to return to campus for the 2021-22 academic session starting from October. This decision is aligned with the phases outlined in the National Recovery Plan, to facilitate university students to return to campuses for resumption of face-to-face- learning. The advised SOPs stipulate that a return to campus will be allowed for students who are fully vaccinated.
With regard to schools, the Ministry of Education had announced on 15 August that the re-opening of schools will be pushed forward to 3 October and schools will re-open in stages. Schools will re-open first for students in their exam years. This is applicable to schools in states that have transitioned to the Second Phase of the National Recovery Plan (NRP). Schools were earlier scheduled to re-open in stages from 1 September after having reverted to online learning earlier. However, with the continued increase in the number of new daily Covid-19 cases this has been pushed forward to 3 October
Comment by the British Council:
Colleges and universities are prepared for the re-opening, however, the campuses will re-open only for fully vaccinated students and staff. This is one of the conditions set by the Ministry of Higher Education as part of the SOPs. Institutions will continue to offer a hybrid teaching model and online teaching will be provided for a specific number of classes, modules and subjects. Along with the government advisories and SOPs, institutions do have their own practices for internal safety in place as well. There are groups of students currently allowed on campus such as for research, however, the re-opening in October will be the biggest re-opening since May – and will be available for the fully vaccinated. The National Association of Private Educational Institutions said that they will provide counselling to those who refused vaccination as part of the efforts to ensure safe campus and community spaces.
Schools across Malaysia were scheduled to open in staggered stages from September, but this has been pushed forward to 3 October now due to the continued high rate of daily new Covid-19 cases. There is concern from parents and different groups about the safety measures on re-opening. At the same time, there is also concern by different groups about the continued closure affecting learning negatively. While schools will re-open first for students of examination classes, it remains to be seen whether there may be additional changes to the school calendar with consequent impact on exam schedules. The chain effect has possible implications for students’ readiness to progress to next stages for higher education plans. We are hopeful that with the high vaccination rates, the current announced dates will continue smoothly.