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Schools open Monday, but haze plans in place

SINGAPORE — Schools will re-open on Monday as planned, but the Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday sought to assure parents of their children’s well-being as it laid out its haze contingency plans, including closing schools if air quality reaches hazardous levels.

Dr Dennis Shirley noted that teachers here are highly skilled and valued. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

Dr Dennis Shirley noted that teachers here are highly skilled and valued. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

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SINGAPORE — Schools will re-open on Monday as planned, but the Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday sought to assure parents of their children’s well-being as it laid out its haze contingency plans, including closing schools if air quality reaches hazardous levels.

School activities will be guided by the daily health advisory. There will be no outdoor activities, for example, if air quality reaches unhealthy levels — between the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) readings of 101 and 300. Lessons could be scaled down if necessary, said the MOE yesterday. Classroom windows and doors will be closed, and schools should use air-conditioned rooms as far as possible.

If air quality reaches hazardous levels during a school day, indicated by PSI readings above 300, students and staff who are sick or have a history of chronic heart and lung disease will be taken to an air-conditioned room with an air purifier before they are taken to seek medical attention. All schools have at least one air-conditioned room with an air purifier, said the MOE.

If the next day’s air quality is forecast to be hazardous, all primary and secondary schools may be closed.

The MOE will announce the closure at about 6pm on the day before schools are due to be closed. Schools will inform parents via phone or text messages. Kindergartens, childcare centres and student care centres will also be closed under such circumstances.

GCE O- and N-Level candidates, who may be affected by the closures, will have their oral examinations rescheduled. Should closure be prolonged, schools will activate home-based learning for their students.

At a press briefing yesterday, Senior Minister of State (Education) Indranee Rajah urged parents to make arrangements with caregivers, as well as their employers.

“Make contingency plans in advance so if and when it reaches the hazardous stage, everybody can kick into gear … line up your caregivers for your children, so in the event something happens, you can trigger it. It is also advisable for parents to speak to their employers beforehand,” she said, adding that employers should also make plans for staff who are parents.

Some parents felt the notice given is too short. Ms Regina Wee, who works in sales operations and has two children in Primary 4 and Primary 2, felt that the 6pm notice “is definitely too last minute”. “It’s not impossible, but I would have to exhaust all means to make sure my children are taken care of indoors when I’m at work,” she said.

Explaining the reason for the short notice, the MOE said the health advisory is only available in the late afternoon.

If parents miss the notification of closure, they can still send their children to school, where teachers will take them in, the MOE said.

Ms Rajah stressed that the health and well-being of the children should be “of paramount importance”. Asked why the ministry revealed its contingency plan only three days before students are set to return to school, she felt that there would be “sufficient time” because of the weekend.

“... we have 350 schools, 250,000 primary school children, 200,000 secondary school students. Everything you do is multiplied by those numbers, so we had to think it through, and arrive at what we thought would be the best plans,” Ms Rajah said.

The MOE said the considerations for closing universities, polytechnics, institutes of technical education and junior colleges will be different because “most of the teaching and learning takes place in enclosed indoor spaces, such as lecture theatres, and the students are older”.

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