Former Bedok North Secondary School in Eunos to house foreign workers in essential services

SINGAPORE — The former site of Bedok North Secondary School in Eunos has been activated as a temporary dormitory for foreign workers providing essential services, Member of Parliament (MP) Pritam Singh said. 

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (May 20), the Workers' Party chief, who is MP of the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency, said that a team from the Ministry of Education (MOE) is preparing the site and expects workers to move in shortly on a date yet to be fixed. 

The former school grounds, situated at the junction of Jalan Damai and Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, will house about 400 workers, Mr Singh said.

Owing to shrinking cohort sizes and student intake brought on by falling birth rates, Bedok North Secondary School merged with Damai Secondary School in January 2018.

This is not the first time that the authorities have designated former school grounds as premises to house migrant workers whose jobs provide essential services. 

The former Nexus International School campus on Ulu Pandan Road has also been tapped as a temporary site to house healthy migrant workers who are in essential services. It can house up to 1,000 workers, who are expected to move in from the middle of June. 

Mr Singh said that an MOE dormitory task force briefed him on-site on Tuesday evening. 

Employers will be responsible for the workers’ upkeep during their stay and will arrange access to groceries and sundries where necessary. 

“The plan is for buses to move into the school to pick up and disembark the workers each morning and evening — or as their shifts determine — so as not to clog up Jalan Damai with traffic,” Mr Singh said. 

Workers will also have to follow strict entry and exit protocols at the temporary dormitory. For now, they must return to their dormitory immediately after work. “They are not allowed to leave the premises upon return,” Mr Singh said. 

Having walked through the rooms on Tuesday, the MP said that the beds and cupboards were kept at a safe distance from one another. There was also a water dispenser and Wi-Fi point in each room. 

Extra piping has been made available to provide showering facilities in toilet cubicles, because school toilets are not commonly fitted with these.

Some members of the MOE dormitory task force, who are from outdoor education provider Outward Bound Singapore, will live on-site with the workers.

Mr Singh urged Eunos residents to support the initiative and invited those who have questions on the temporary dormitory to contact him. 

When asked by TODAY if the workers would be tested for Covid-19 before moving in, Mr Singh said that he did not have an affirmative answer for the moment. This was because the workers have not been identified, nor has a date for their move been confirmed. 

He added that the main purpose of gradually moving the workers to other sites around Singapore was to “thin out the population in the dormitories”, so that safe distancing measures can be rolled out. 

“However, as the workers identified for residence at the Bedok North site are essential workers, I would be surprised if they were not tested (for the coronavirus) before they move in,” he said.

On Wednesday, Singapore confirmed 570 new cases of Covid-19, pushing the total to 29,364. Migrant workers in dormitories continue to form a vast majority of coronavirus patients here.  

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said previously that more than 10,000 healthy foreign workers, including those in essential services, had been moved out of dormitories to facilities including military camps, floating hotels, vacant public housing blocks and converted sports halls.  

Eunos resident Fauziah Abdul Ghani, whose Housing and Development Board flat is a 10-minute walk from the disused school, said that she had no issues with migrant workers living in her neighbourhood. 

“As long as they follow protocol, it should not be a problem,” the 47-year-old housewife said. 

“They already played their part in building our nation. The very least Singaporeans can do is think of their well-being.”