Lion dance teams are the main source of income for Chinese private schools, but to protect the students from the risk of contracting the virus, many schools have decided to not dispatch their lion dance teams this Chinese New Year.
The government had previously announced on the 19th of January that lion dancing was allowed throughout the Chinese New Year celebration. Due to the fact that each lion dance team would consist of many people, it would be challenging to maintain the necessary SOPs while performing. Hence many lion dance teams that came from private schools have still decided to not perform this year, which also completely mitigates the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Klang has been the ‘eye of the storm’, recording more than a hundred cases daily. The academic sector views this as a tremendous risk and many private schools have decided to put the health of their students first.
“Even if we decide to dispatch our lion dance teams, each team would need at least 10 people, at maximum 20 people. Apart from the lion dancers, there would still be students in charge of the percussions, drums, team leads and other miscellaneous activities. So normally, each team would take up a lorry, and it’s hard to maintain the necessary SOPs in the lorry as while as at the performance venue, where many people may gather around to watch without complying with the relevant standard operating procedures.”
“So after much consideration, we have decided not to dispatch our lion dance teams this year.”
The school management had also stated that their lion dance teams are among one of their main incomes, by dispatching their team during Chinese New Year, the school would be able to gather around RM100,000 and even more.
If you would like to support these private schools and students during these challenging times, please feel free to donate to the respective school managements.
Reference Links -
[1] China Press