School Closure During COVID-19 Outbreak: Parental Attitudes and Their Experiences

Chuong, Hock Ting and Jeffery, Stephen and Ahmad Khairi, Hassan and Norashikin, Abdul Moris and Noor Nasuha, Noor Hamal and Nurul Ain, Amidar and Mohd Azlan, Rusdi (2021) School Closure During COVID-19 Outbreak: Parental Attitudes and Their Experiences. Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 17 (1). ISSN 2636-9346

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Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 brought closure to educational facilities. In this study, we want to explore how sociode-mographic factors affect parental attitudes and their experiences during the pandemic related to school closure. Ob-jectives: In this study, we are exploring the parental attitudes and their experiences during the school closure due to COVID-19 outbreak. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Malaysian households of 273 parents with children aged <18 years between May and June 2020 by distributing a structured online questionnaire. Socio-demographic, attitudes, and experiences variables were explored and analyzed using the chi-square test and Fisher exact test. We determined the association between sociodemographic factors (parent working status and school affiliation of children) with four attitudes of a parent (extent of school closure seen as a problem, plan for childcare, permit out-of-home activities and who cared for the child) and parental experiences (impacts on parental employ-ment - missed work, lost pay or income, the financial cost in excess during the pandemic comparing to typical days expenses and felt at risk of losing a job). Results: 97.4% of the respondents agreed with the school closure due to the severity of COVID-19. Having both parents working (61.9%), having a plan for childcare (88.64%), parents permit outdoor activities (21.24%) and availability of caretaker for the child (82.42%) were factors associated with “school affiliation of children”. It was found that 56.0% of parents who were working, had missed their works during the school closure. School affiliation was significantly associated with parental employment. Conclusion: This study had shown that the majority of the parents were significantly affected by the school closure together with their children due to COVID-19 pandemic in which they stayed at home for valid and essential reasons. The parents’ perspectives and attitudes toward the government’s policies on any pandemics should be studied in future.

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