KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Only students taking key national examinations may physically attend school during the movement control order while from Standard One to Form Four must continue with online learning, the Education Ministry said today.

With the MCO set to be imposed from January 13 to January 26 in Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Labuan, Melaka, Johor and Sabah, the ministry today noted that face-to-face sessions in school in these areas will only be allowed for exam-sitting students.

These students allowed to be present physically on campus are those sitting for SPM, Malaysian Vocational Certificate (SVM), Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM), STPM, the Malaysian Higher Religious Certificate (STAM) and Malaysian Vocational Diploma (DVM) for the years 2020 and 2021, as well as equivalent international examinations.

The ministry said students --- at fully residential schools or schools with hostels --- who will be sitting for such exams are allowed to return to their hostels starting from January 16, with the schools to issue letters giving special approval for them to travel across states or districts to return to their hostels.

"Besides that, all students of primary schools and Form 1 to Form 4 students in secondary schools in MCO areas will carry out their studies through the Teaching and Learning at Home (PdPR) method according to the suitability for teachers and students starting from January 20, 2021. This also applies to students of SVM semester 2 and DVM semester 2 for the year 2020 in vocational colleges,” the ministry said in a statement tonight.

The ministry had last year said that the schooling year for students would this year begin on January 20.

With the imposition of the MCO however, students in such states would begin their school year studying at home, instead of physically at schools.

Also in today’s statement, the Education Ministry said registered candidates who have yet to sit for assessment for enrollment in special schools for Form 1 will sit for the assessment between January 20 to January 29, while assessment for those entering Form 4 will be held between February 15 to February 25, with the ministry to issue letters granting special approval to allow candidates to travel across states or districts to go to the assessment centres.

Teachers in schools in MCO areas are required to return to their work stations before January 20.

The ministry said teachers who are involved with the SPM/SVM/SKM/STPM/STAM/DVM examinations for the years 2020 and 2021 in MCO areas have to be present in school to conduct face-to-face teaching and learning activities, with the schools to issue letters giving special approval to enable the teachers to travel across states or districts to be present at schools.

As for matriculation college students in MCO areas, those who are already at their colleges are required to remain in their respective colleges to continue hybrid lessons, while students of all programmes at Institutes of Teacher Education (IPG) in MCO areas are to undergo online lessons from January 17.

"Besides that, all private kindergartens that are registered with the Education Ministry can continue to operate face-to-face,” the statement said.

As for conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO) areas, the statement said that all educational institutions under the ministry and all private educational institutes that are registered with the ministry --- including international schools --- will operate according to the respective schedules of each institution.

As for schools that are not registered with the ministry including those coming under state governments, the ministry recommended that such schools follow the rules listed out in the statement.

From January 13 to January 26, the CMCO areas are Pahang, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, while the RMCO areas are Perlis and Sarawak.