"Teething Issues" Surface On First Day Of Home-based Learning For Primary School Students

The first day of home-based learning for primary school students across the country began today and has received mixed reactions from students and parents in our community.

One of the parents theAsianparent spoke to, Mr Fazlan Haniffa who has children attending both primary and secondary schools, said there were challenges faced by in “getting all the links and access setup at first” in what is otherwise “smooth experience.”

Another parent who requested to be identified only as Ms Joy also described the first day of home-based learning “generally smooth.”

“There was one instance, however, where her daughter suddenly got disconnected from the Singapore Learning Space (SLS) when her teacher was presenting something,” Ms Joy added, noting that her daughter, who is in primary 6, was immediately able to reconnect to the platform.

Meanwhile, other parents said that their kids were not able to log in at all.

Image source: Facebook/Benjamin Tay

One Facebook user, Benjamin Tay, who is helping his child access the SLS said “the system is crashing” as he kept seeing an error screen that says the portal is temporarily available.

Mr Tay, however, acknowledges that it is a “teething issue” as the move is only being carried ut for the first time. “Teachers have put many hours into developing these resources for our children and I hope that their hard work will not go to waste simply because of technical capacity issues.”

Teething issues on the first day of home-based learning

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung noted the “teething issues” after receiving feedback that some students at home also had problems logging into SLS.

“Please bear with us as we iron out the tech glitches,” Mr Ong said, adding that there are “a lot of adjustments to be done.”

The minister also visited Sembawang Primary School to check on how home-based learning was being carried out today. He said that there were around 20 kids in school, “a few were there because they did not have WiFi at home, others had parents who had to work.” 

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung’s message regarding the first day of home-based learning. | Image source: Facebook / Ong Ye Kung

According to the minister, teachers put in “extra hours to prepare for home-based learning, on top of the usual classroom teaching they do.”

“It’s not easy and it’s not perfect, but we are tapping on our collective efforts to get this to work during such exceptional times,” said Mr Ong. 

Home-based learning

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Friday (27 March) that all schools will conduct one day of home-based learning a week from April, as part of the enhanced measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Primary schools will carry out home-based learning on Wednesdays, secondary schools on Thursdays, and junior colleges and centralised institutes on Fridays.

The agency said the move is to “allow both our students and parents to be better prepared should the situation call for more days of home-based learning.”

Meanwhile, kindergartens will not be affected by the arrangement.

ALSO READ: How to Effectively Implement Home-based Learning for Your Child During the COVID-19 Outbreak