To care about students’ learning need during class suspension caused by the epidemic, to maintain a good habit of learning and enhance learning interest, the DSEJ implements the measure for students to study at home in collaboration with schools.
The prerequisite is not to increase pressure on the stakeholders and focus on reviewing the knowledge that has been learned
Considering that students studying at home is different from having daily classes at school, the DSEJ has released guidelines on the implementation of the aforesaid measure to schools previously, for instance, arranging learning content that meets students’ self-study ability; giving due consideration to such factors as students’ learning conditions and supporting facilities at home when designing learning content and assigning homework. The prerequisite is not to increase pressure on teachers, students and parents; not to catch up with the schedule or arrange new courses, nor arrange assessment activities such as tests and examinations, focus on reviewing the knowledge that has been learned.
Taking a good lesson, studying at home in a relaxed manner
During the implementation of the measure, the DSEJ has communicated closely with the stakeholders, such as education organisations, schools’ persons-in-charge, teachers and parents etc., to understand and care about the arrangement of the measure, as well as to provide schools with more specific guidelines so as to enable schools and teachers to further understand the significance of the measure and the arrangement of the related work, so that teachers can give and students can take a good lesson of fighting against the epidemic at home. Besides, to help teachers, parents and students access to online teaching and learning resources more conveniently, so that online learning can be conducted in a relaxed manner, the thematic web page of “Joining Hands in Fighting the Epidemic, Learning Easily at Home” (https://portal.dsej.gov.mo/webdsejspace/site/studyarrange/index.jsp) is set up, providing educational clips about epidemic prevention information, health education, disaster prevention education, language learning and environmental protection education and so on, as well as the learning platforms and learning tools of different regions, so that it is convenient for teachers to select diverse, relaxing and fun content for students to learn.
Caring about students’ mental health, creating a counselling network
To care about students’ mental health needs in this epidemic, the DSEJ has set up counselling hotlines in collaboration with 9 counselling service institutions, and subsidised the two Portuguese schools to hire school counsellors to provide counselling service to Macao students during class suspension due to the epidemic. Furthermore, the DSEJ also has launched the “Walking Together during the Epidemic, Staying Calm and Fearless” student counselling service web page to provide Macao’s students and parents with information about counselling service, including counselling tips for students and parents, support hotlines of 9 student counselling service institutions and other related information. The relevant information can be viewed on the DSEJ website (https://portal.dsej.gov.mo/webdsejspace/site/carestudents).
Good communication, home-school cooperation
In case if students or teachers encounter learning problems or difficulties during class suspension, it is advisable to communicate with the school first, at the same time, the school should also provide appropriate support to bring the spirit of home-school cooperation into full play. The DSEJ will certainly continue to be concerned about the needs of schools, teachers, students and parents; and provide support in a timely manner.
Depending on the epidemic situation, postponement or cancellation of competitions or events will be announced in due course
The inter-school competitions and activities in the academic year 2019/2020 may be affected to a certain extent by the epidemic and may lead to postponement or cancellation. Depending on the actual situation of such objective conditions as the epidemic development, the date of class resumption, the schedule, venues, professional human resources; the DSEJ will consult the opinions of the relevant parties, such as the organisers and schools, then re-evaluate the arrangement of postponement or cancellation of the competitions or activities, and announce to the public in due course.
It is hoped that schools, teachers, students and parents will continue to cooperate with the epidemic prevention measures of the Macao SAR Government. It is still essential to self-quarantine at home, unless it is necessary, do not go out nor assemble to prevent the epidemic from spreading, so that students can return to normal learning life as soon as possible.