The Government is keeping a close eye on the Covid-19 situation even as it is keeping schools open because those who will be most disadvantaged by their closure will be students from lower-income families, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Already, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has said that long-term absenteeism rates have crept up because support activities such as enrichment classes have been cancelled, he told reporters yesterday.
Noting that some have asked why schools here are not being closed like in countries such as Japan, he said the Government's approach is to confine and eliminate individual clusters rather than shut the whole system, he said.
"We should look at schools as individual schools rather than one whole system, just as we look at workplaces as individual workplaces, rather than one whole work system," he explained.
He recounted that he had received feedback from a student taking her O levels this year.
"I explained to her why it was, that actually schools can be safe places, and schools provide a very important service, which helps the kids and helps their parents.
"If you do not have them open, it does not mean that your problem has gone away because where do the kids go?" he said.
Families with good support structures can look after their children at home, but there are parents who are unable to be home with their children, he added.
"They may run down to the video arcade, or to the shops and roam around, and may face even more risk of catching Covid-19 than if they were in a controlled environment in school," he said.
Schools are also where children from less advantaged backgrounds have a chance to level up, as they get to socialise, go for enrichment classes and be guided by teachers, he added.
When parents are unable to make up for these missed moments at home, "the kid is going to be put at a disadvantage", said PM Lee.
The Government, he said, is monitoring the school situation closely, especially in the wake of some employees at the PCF Sparkletots pre-school in Fengshan and Dover Court International School getting infected by the virus.
Yesterday, MOE announced that all schools will conduct home-based learning once a week.
Also, dismissal times will be staggered, it added.
Lim Yan Liang
