Schools to shift to full home-based learning from April 8: PM Lee

[SINGAPORE] Students in all schools and institutes of higher learning will shift to full home-based learning from next Wednesday (April 8), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will work with schools to implement this, Mr Lee said in a speech announcing new measures to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

The measures, which include the closure of most workplaces, will last for at least a month.

All pre-school and student care centres will also be closed, but will provide "limited services" for children of parents who have to continue working and are unable to make alternative care arrangements, Mr Lee said.

Singapore schools had piloted one day of home-based learning this Wednesday.

Mr Lee said this has gone smoothly, with teething issues being resolved.

The MOE announced last Friday that primary school pupils would do home-based learning on Wednesdays, secondary school students on Thursdays, and junior colleges and Millennia Institute students on Fridays.

Explaining why the government decided to take such a step, Mr Lee said Singapore has routinely seen more than 50 new cases daily over the past two weeks, despite best efforts of authorities to curb the outbreak.

"Initially, many of the new cases were imported from overseas, mostly returning Singaporeans. Then last week, we began to have more local cases. Furthermore, despite our good contact tracing, for nearly half of these cases, we do not know where or from whom the person caught the virus," he said.

"This suggests that there are more people out there who are infected, but who have not been identified. And they may be passing the virus unknowingly to others," he said.

While the situation remains under control, the government has decided to "make a decisive move now, to pre-empt escalating infections", said PM Lee.

After discussions with the multi-ministry task force, the government has decided to adopt stricter measures.

"We have decided that instead of tightening incrementally over the next few weeks, we should make a decisive move now, to pre-empt escalating infections. We will therefore impose significantly stricter measures. This is like a circuit breaker," he said.

The government will also tighten restrictions on gatherings.

It boils down to three things, PM Lee noted.

"First, stay at home, as much as possible. Second, avoid socialising with others beyond your own household," he said, adding that people should avoid visiting even their extended families who are not staying with them, especially if they are elderly or vulnerable."

Third, people should go out only to do essential things - to buy food at markets, or to take out from restaurants and hawker centres, or to exercise in the neighbourhood park, keeping a safe distance from others, he added.

"The spirit of these measures is to get all of us to minimise physical contact," he said.

"If we don't go out, if we avoid contact with others, then the virus won't be able to spread. It is as simple as that."

THE STRAITS TIMES

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