We thank Mr Wu for his suggestion for secondary schools to move to Home-Based Learning (HBL) to minimise the risk of COVID-19 infection in our schools ("Worried that children will get COVID-19 at school", 17 Feb).
We recognise that prolonged periods away from school disrupts students' learning, and also affects their social emotional development and mental wellbeing. This is why MOE has taken a calibrated approach by progressively resuming in-person student activities, including Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs), while ensuring the safety of our students.
We will continue to keep our schools safe by implementing Safe Management Measures (SMMs), such as mask wearing. In addition, the high vaccination rate amongst our students allows us to return to a more normal school life with greater assurance. Over 97% of our secondary school students have received both doses of the vaccine. For our primary schools, the vaccination exercise is currently on-going, but we are heartened that about 80% have already signed up, with over 75% having received at least their first dose and many either fully vaccinated or are slated to receive their second dose soon. MOE will continue to encourage and support parents to get their children vaccinated. We will monitor the situation and adjust our SMMs where needed, in line with national guidelines.
We thank Mr Wu for sharing his child's positive experience with HBL. Building on the gains from our COVID-19 experience, MOE is moving towards implementing regular HBL days for all secondary schools and junior colleges/Millennia Institute by Term 4 this year, to help develop self-directed, independent, and passionate learners.
On Mr Wu's suggestion for schools to start at a later time, MOE has commissioned two research studies to help us better understand the impact of factors affecting sleep duration and sleep quality of students, including school start time. Schools currently start no earlier than 7.30a.m. and have the autonomy to adopt a later start time, taking into consideration factors such as parents' feedback, school end time, impact on after-school and inter-school programmes, transport provisions and the traffic situation around the schools.
Ms Liew Wei Li
Deputy Director-General of Education (Schools) and Director of Schools
Ministry of Education