USM PENANG, 25 April 2020 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is in the midst of making thorough preparations to facilitate its students who have decided to leave the campus to return to their hometowns, where they will be able to spend the rest of the Movement Control Order (MCO) period at home with their family members and loved ones.

The decision to allow the students to return home was made yesterday by Senior Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, following the government's decision to extend the MCO by another two weeks to May 12.

According to USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor Student Development Affairs and Alumni, Professor Dr. Aldrin Abdullah, among the immediate task was to compile and finalise the list of students who have decided to go home, which will take a day or two to complete.

“We have to reconfirm the number of students involved in the exercise. The USM COVID-19 Nerve Centre did a survey three weeks ago, but now we have to regather all the necessary information.

“We believe since the last survey, there might be many who will change their minds especially after recent developments, so we have to get all this sorted out in order to ensure that the entire process of the movement of students would be smooth sailing,” he said.

Aldrin added that USM will follow all the standard operating procedures (SOPs), guidelines and advice of the ministry to ensure the students' safety at all times.

For the record, USM has more than 4,500 students staying in Desasiswa at its three campuses since the MCO started on March 18.  

The government announced recently that some 53,000 students who have been ‘stranded’ at their university campuses nationwide since the enforcement of the MCO can return home beginning April 27, but with strict SOPs in place.

However, only students whose residences or hometowns located in green zones are allowed to return home, and the travelling period would be only from 9.00 pm to 9.00 am to ensure a controlled journey and to avoid mass movement.

Upon reaching their hometowns, the students would be taken to their respective district police stations or district offices nearest to their houses, where they will be taken right up to their doorstep by the frontliners from various government agencies.

Aldrin added that all students would undergo screening for symptoms by personnel from USM Pusat Sejahtera before boarding the buses and will be provided with packed food (for ‘sahur’ by the Division of Student Development Affairs & Alumni and USM Islamic Centre), face mask (by Pusat Sejahtera) and hand sanitizer (produced on-campus by the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences).

All USM buses that will ferry the students have undergone thorough maintenance checks (by USM Department of Development and Asset Management) and disinfection process (by USM Occupational Safety and Health Unit, Pusat Sejahtera, and the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia), while the drivers have been screened and cleared from COVID-19 symptoms beforehand.

Based on statistics gathered by the Ministry of Higher Education, only 85% of around 53,000 students in higher learning institutions nationwide have agreed to go home while the remaining 15% indicated that they will stay back to continue with the ongoing online classes.

Text: Tan Ewe Hoe/Photos: Ebrahim Abdul Manan