As the country continues to face the aftermath of the recent Covid-19 surge, Singapore pre-schools express their struggle with the ever-changing health protocols and their staff and students acquiring the Omicron variant. Learn more about it here.
In this article, you’ll read:
- Singapore pre-schools suffering from the effects of the recent Covid-19 surge
- Pre-school operators asking for more ART kits, help in looking after the children
- Effects of this on the children
As more children get infected by the Omicron variant, pre-schools in Singapore are bearing the brunt of the battle because they have to deal with implementing new health protocols while being understaffed.
Last week, 11 principals and pre-school operators complained that as more of their staff and students get infected, they have to deal with a huge load of problems because of the stringent, ever-changing health protocols.
In February, the pre-schools were tasked by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) to identify close contacts of confirmed cases to report to the Ministry of Health and inform the parents about the cases as well.
They also need to ensure that the children who were issued with health risk warnings (HRWs) test negative in their antigen rapid test (ART) before they can enter the school again.
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Singapore pre-schools woes due to Covid-19 surge
While it sounds pretty upfront, principals and administrators say that the challenge grows when some parents neglect to inform the schools that their children have contracted the virus.
They have to be on standby almost 24/7 to handle submissions, contact tracing and dissemination of information to parents and staff.
To keep the staff and the children safe, they have to prevent children with HRWs from entering school premises until they show a negative ART test result.
Some centres even had to set up separate queues for parents who have not provided evidence of administering an ART to their child.
The burden is further increased when the staff themselves get Covid-19.
Lack of manpower in Singapore pre-schools
According to Straits Times, almost all the pre-schools that they spoke to reported that they are lacking manpower, especially those who do not have a pool of relief teachers.
For Shirley Tan, executive director of Catholic Preschool Education, overseeing 10 centres across Singapore, the greatest headache is having a teacher test positive.
“Who’s going to look after these children? They are not like adults, who can manage themselves,” she said.
In some instances, principals have to take the additional tasks of cooking meals for the school or teaching classes because their employees are down with the virus. Aside from that, they need to be careful not to overwork those who are still healthy.
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More concerns due to the pandemic
The work keeps piling in as they still have to deal with the frustration of staff and parents who are still required to undergo ART testing despite having recovered from Covid-19 without seeing a doctor.
Moreover, they also have to spend a huge amount in having the school cleaned and sanitized as ECDA require deep cleaning for every Covid-19 case detected. However, ECDA recently allowed the schools to implement their own cleaning and disinfection regime, as to not incur more costs from third-party cleaners.
Some centres are appealing for the authorities to supply more ART kits because they already used up their supply that was meant for rostered routine testing.
Covid-19 effect on pre-school children
With the school administrators and staff facing these problems, it’s not surprising that the children’s learning is also affected.
It’s hard for children to learn socio-emotional skills without knowing about facial expressions and interactions. But this has become a challenge since both teachers and students have two-thirds of their faces covered in masks all the time.
“It is challenging for teachers to maintain safe distancing almost every minute and give quality time while overseeing groups of children during lesson time and at outdoor play,” said Little Seeds Preschool principal Candice Koh.
But as more people get their vaccines, these pre-school owners and administrators hope that the Covid-19 measures will be eased so their teachers can focus on teaching and the children can have the freedom to play and socialize again.
Meanwhile, to ensure the safety of every student and staff in their schools and prevent the rise in Covid-19 cases, the leaders of these Singapore pre-schools appeal to parents to refrain from taking their children to school if their child is unwell. They should also have the social responsibility to keep the school updated on their health’s status.
Parents of children who test positive using ART kits at home and are asymptomatic should inform the pre-school and let their child self-isolate for 72 hours.
Meanwhile, the schools can opt to inform parents about reported positive cases so that they can make an informed decision about whether to send their child to school.