As Singapore sees an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases, those who remain unvaccinated are still at high risk of developing severe symptoms.
Apart from adults who’re unable to take the vaccine, another group of unvaccinated folks are children who are 12 years old and younger.
To protect them, students in primary and special schools were to undergo full Home-Based Learning (HBL) starting next week.
This will now be extended to 7 Oct.
The move will allow children to stay home for a longer period.
In a press release on Friday (24 Sep), the Ministry of Health (MOH) stated the aim of better protecting younger children who are not yet medically eligible for vaccination.
To that end, the precautionary measure of full HBL announced on 18 Sep was initially supposed to be for 10 days from 27 Sep to 6 Oct.
It covered pupils from Primary 1-5, and Special Education (SPED) schools offering the National Curriculum.
For Primary 6 students, they’ll go on a study break prior to the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) from 25-29 Sep.
The HBL has now been extended by 1 day to 7 Oct as an added precaution, MOH said.
This means more home time for pupils, as Children’s Day on 8 Oct (Friday) is a scheduled school holiday.
Children thus can stay home the rest of the week, and won’t be back in school till 11 Oct (Monday).
Besides primary and special schools, Private Education Institutions (PEIs) will also go on HBL for all students aged below 13 till 10 Oct.
In-person tuition and enrichment classes for young children below 13 must also go online.
If that isn’t possible, they must be suspended.
However, preschool services in these PEIs can stay open.
Other centres that will be open are:
Nevertheless, parents are encouraged to keep their children at home if they can.
Unfortunately, children haven’t been spared as Covid-19 ravages the country.
Many students from schools across Singapore have already been infected. We’ve also been told that more children are being infected due to the Delta Variant.
Let’s hope the coming HBL will better protect our young ones from the virus.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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