International schools in Singapore feeling upbeat

Singapore

CROSS-BORDER travel remains restricted, but international schools in Singapore are optimistic about their prospects for student enrolment and staff recruitment for the upcoming academic year starting August.

Atul Temurnikar, chairman of Global Schools Foundation, which runs Global Indian International School (GIIS) and One World International School, noted that tightened borders have reduced the inflow of expatriates from South Asia, East Asia and South-east Asian countries, many of whom choose GIIS for their children.

Yet, Mr Temurnikar added that these measures would not indefinitely affect student enrolment numbers as they are temporary measures in place to ensure safety in current times.

And from May 30, returning Singaporeans, permanent residents (PRs) will need to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours before departure from higher-risk countries.

"We are confident that once these restrictions are lifted, and students are allowed into the country, we will find parents from many nationalities coming to us for their childrens' education," said Mr Temurnikar.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 2 pm

Lifestyle

Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.

Sign Up

Christian Soulard, principal of the International French School, said that the school is prepared to start the new year with "roughly the current student population (numbers)".

Despite stiffer border policies, the schools maintain that demand for international schools education in Singapore among the international community is relatively unchanged.

Tom Evans, director of marketing and communications at Tanglin Trust School, suggests this could be due to Singapore's efficiency in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Looking at the way Singapore handles the pandemic, they (expatriates) actually see it as a very safe country to be in," said Mr Evans.

Similarly, staff recruitment has not been majorly affected by tightened borders. Apart from possible delays in arrivals, schools are expecting and experiencing smooth staffing processes.

"Everything is fine. The difficulty has been more logistical than anything," said Mr Evans, referring to Tanglin Trust School switching to virtual tours and interviews in place of physical ones.

While the international schools have a largely positive outlook for this year, they have not ruled out challenges completely.

The impact of border tightening remains to be seen, they said, as a portion of school students and families are still abroad ahead of the new school term.

To mitigate these challenges, schools were driven to develop more efficient methods of learning to ensure that lessons are not significantly disrupted as a result of the pandemic's volatility.

One aspect that they have done so is through amping up their virtual learning systems and implementing staff redeployment measures.

Mr Temurnikar said that GIIS has in place The SMART Campus which provides students with virtual learning classrooms and technology facilities that lets them attend classes remotely.

GIIS mentioned that currently, there are 20 students stuck overseas who are regularly attending virtual classes.

Said Mr Temurnikar: "Students stuck overseas, but who have already enrolled with us, are provided with a meeting ID and password, so they can join our regular classrooms in the SMART Campus seamlessly."

The Canadian International School shared that there are already measures in place to redeploy teachers should there be any delays in their arrivals, said Michelle Sharp, head of communications and marketing at the school.

As border movement measures continue to evolve according to the virus situation worldwide, international schools here are positive that their school curriculum will remain attractive enough, and that the travel measures in Singapore will remain efficient.

"We would not preclude students from high-risk countries as we trust the border control and quarantine measures that the Singapore government has in place," added Ms Sharp.

In a multi-ministry taskforce press conference last month, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that reopening of borders and easing of restrictions cannot be timed with the rate of vaccination in Singapore. Rather, it should be aligned with outcomes such as the number of infections and their severity.

A Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble was set to launch on May 26 but was called off last month for the second time, as the Republic saw an uptick of infections due to the emergence of new clusters.