SINGAPORE – Over the last three months, 129 students and 17 school staff have tested positive for Covid -19.
This is about 0.03 per cent of the total student population from primary to pre-university levels, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing in a Facebook post on Friday (July 30).
He, however, reassured parents that schools remain safe places for learning.
“As a parent myself, I would like to reassure fellow parents that our schools remain safe places for learning,” he wrote.
“We have implemented stringent safe management measures to minimise transmission risks. Surveillance measures are in place to detect potential Covid-19 positive cases as soon as possible, and we are using ring-fencing measures such as the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) leave of absence (LOA) to keep potential cases out of schools.”
The update comes in the wake of a new cluster linked to a cleaner at Punggol Primary School who was identified on Tuesday.
The cluster has since grown to 12 cases on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
All pupils and staff of the school will undergo mandatory swab tests on Thursday and Friday.
The minister said he had received mixed views from parents, with some keen on transiting to full home-based learning (HBL) and others who are against this.Â
He listed several ways that HBL has an impact on students, parents and teachers.Â
Not all students have a conducive environment for HBL, he said, adding that full HBL on a prolonged basis comes at a significant cost to our students learning, and socio-emotional and mental well-being.
He also pointed out that parents may have to scramble to make alternative care arrangements which may not be safer for children, and that teachers are juggling the additional demands of preparing and conducting online lessons while taking care of their families.Â
Noting that Singapore is unlikely to see zero community cases in the short term, and vaccination for younger children is currently unavailable, Mr Chan added that full home-based learning (HBL) is not something that will be resorted to, unless necessary.
He said: “Based on current science and what we understand about the virus, MOE will continue to adopt a targeted approach to deal with Covid-19 cases in our schools.
This means that when we have a school case, we will isolate those who are close contacts of the positive case through LOA or a quarantine order.”
In exceptional cases where the situation is unclear, MOE may put the entire school on HBL to break any possible transmission as well as to give the MOH time to test and investigate thoroughly before reopening the school, Mr Chan said.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and review if any adjustment is needed in line with national guidelines, especially as we transit towards managing Covid-19 as an endemic disease, he added.
