JOHOR BARU: School closures due to the haze have left some parents in Johor scrambling to manage their children's online lessons, with limited devices and supervision posing major challenges.
Nor Azura Md Amin, 40, said her three children, aged six, eight and 10, had to attend online classes simultaneously, despite having only two devices at home.
"It was complete chaos when classes started simultaneously. I only have two devices at home, but three children need to access their classes.
"Not only do we lack devices, but when there are topics that they do not understand, all three would ask me questions at the same time," she said when contacted.
Azura, who works in the private sector, said the situation had disrupted her daily routine and she might have to take leave if the haze persisted.
"Luckily, today is my day off. Last week, no one was able to guide and monitor the children during online classes because both my husband and I were working.
"The challenge is even greater for residents in rural areas due to slow internet connectivity, making it difficult for children to follow their lessons smoothly," she said.
Another parent, Siti Hajar A Gaffar, 43, said some parents had not been allowed to work from home during the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) period.
She said this made it difficult for parents to supervise their children, particularly primary school pupils who were left without adult supervision at home.
"This affects the children's concentration during online lessons because no one is available to monitor them throughout their classes.
"Device limitations are also a major problem, as some older personal devices, such as outdated iOS devices, do not support essential applications such as Google Meet," she said.
All schools in Johor were closed last Thursday and Friday amid worsening air quality and public health concerns.
The state government has extended the closure for another five days, from today until Friday.
The closure affects 1,198 schools and 617,258 students, as well as 575 Johor State Religious Schools, three Johor State Religious High Schools and 239 registered Private Islamic Educational Institutions in the state.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd