In an address to the nation on Friday (3 April), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said schools will shift to full home-based learning beginning next Wednesday, 8 April.
According to Mr Lee, Singapore will apply “circuit breakers for one month in the first instance,” “to help reduce the risk of a big outbreak occurring and gradually bring our numbers down and allow us to relax some measures.”
“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.
Schools and Institutes of Higher Learning to Shift to Full Home-based Learning
The Ministry of Education (MOE), in a statement, said students from all primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL), as well as Special Education schools, will shift to full Home-based Learning (HBL) starting from 8 April for three weeks till 4 May 2020.
All preschools, MOE Kindergartens and student care centres, including special student care centres, will suspend their general services during this period, MOE said.
“Private education institutions should move to HBL, or suspend classes otherwise,” the agency added. Classes will resume on 5 May 2020.
Mid-year examinations cancelled, National examinations to continue
With home-based learning, school-based assessments and examinations for the year “will need to be adjusted where necessary,” MOE said.
The agency said all school-based mid-year examinations will be cancelled. However, national examinations, including the mid-year GCE O- and A-Level Mother Tongue Language examinations in June, Year-End Examinations and Primary School Leaving Examinations will proceed as planned and with the necessary precautionary measures in place.
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Home-based Learning
The MOE announced last Friday that primary school students would do home-based learning on Wednesdays, secondary school students on Thursdays, and students in junior colleges and centralised institute on Fridays.
According to Mr Lee, the move to home-based learning has gone smoothly, with teething issues being resolved.
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