SINGAPORE — While it was a break from the usual school day for students, educators were busy putting into action plans drawn up for the Republic’s first school closure due to the threat of hazardous levels of haze.

Teachers uploaded modules onto schools’ e-learning portals for students whose parents chose to keep them at home, so that they had something to work on. Others were charged with supervising the handful who turned up at schools, down to bringing to them their meals in the air-conditioned spaces they were housed in.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said about 3,300 students reported to schools as at 10.30am today (Sept 25), less than 1 per cent of the total cohort of primary- and secondary-school students. Schools are expected to re-open on Monday, unless the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) is forecast to go over 300.

De La Salle School principal Daphne Sing said schools have been prepared for such an occasion, since the historic episode of haze in 2013 when the three-hour PSI reached 401. For those at home, the school has a “Ask n Learn” forum, which allows students to do revision on their own at home.

About 23 students had showed up in the morning. They were brought to the library, where they could play board games such as Scrabble or Bingo. A teacher was also present, reading a book to students. Si Ling Primary School principal Richard Lim said should a closure be ordered when the Primary School Leaving Examination take place, students can sit for the exams in air-conditioned rooms with air purifiers. The 13 students who reported to the school today were placed in the student care centre and library, and teachers brought food from the canteen for students so they did not have to leave the premises.

Speaking at a media briefing this evening, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said the decision to close schools was the right one, given how air quality was indeed at hazardous levels in the morning, before improving later in the day.

Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, when asked whether the haze announcements came too late yesterday night, assured that decisions were not “made on the fly”. “All this has been discussed within the agencies for the past few years… every year we will review it, make sure we improve it, but the system is largely in place,” he said.

Mrs Sing acknowledged that some parents did not receive the information until early morning as the school’s system was “a little bit slow”, but said schools remained open to students whose parents could not make necessary care arrangements.

Parents interviewed by TODAY were largely satisfied with the schools’ arrangements, but some said the schools’ e-learning systems appeared to be overwhelmed at times. Said Ms Serene Ng, 34, a mother of two boys in primary school: “The websites are facing technical issues with so many kids accessing at the same time ... this could be very frustrating.”

Ms Joey Tan, 38, a mother of two primary school children, said the school had planned for different levels to log in at different times, but the system still hung, before recovering around 2pm.

In response to queries, the MOE said each school runs its own online learning management systems, and schools work with vendors to increase bandwidth, or advise parents to log in at different time slots, to prepare for heavy online traffic.

Apart from these systems, students can also study out of textbooks and other internet resources when at home.

Childcare centres and kindergartens, meanwhile, remained open while scaling down their programmes, but parents could also keep their children home as a precaution.

Half the kindergartens had no children in attendance, while childcare centres were 98 per cent full. At Apricot Academy, 11 out of the usual 47 children were present. Principal Sabiah Jabar said: “This is a compliment to us and a sign that they trust us to take care of their children.”

Pre-schools took steps to protect their charges’ health. Nurture Cottage Preschool and Childcare kept its main door and windows shut to keep out as much haze as possible. Dropping off his four-year-old son at the centre today, Mr Adrian Lum, said: “(It is) not easy to find someone to take care of my kid, but I (know) that the school will take care of him.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MARISSA YEO, TOH EE MING AND FRANCIS LAW