3 April 2020
Dear Parents / Guardians
Keeping Our Children Safe Against COVID-19: Preschools to suspend general services
In view of the increasing number of locally transmitted
COVID-19 cases in Singapore in the past week, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce will
be implementing more safe distancing measures as a circuit breaker to limit the
local transmission of COVID-19. The aim
is to minimise movements and interactions in public and private places, and
encourage everyone to stay at home unless necessary for essential purposes.
Suspension of general services
2 The
Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF)
will require all preschools, MOE Kindergartens and student care centres to
suspend their general services from 8 April 2020 until 4 May 2020. Parents should keep their children home
during this period.
Home-based activity resources
3 During
this period when preschools are suspended, your preschool will keep in touch
with your child to check on his/ her general well-being. Home-based activity resources will also be
shared with preschools and parents to support your child’s development while at
home.
Limited service provision
4 During this period, even though preschools are closed and general services suspended,preschools will remain open to serve a limited group of parents/guardians who are working in essential services and unable to find alternative care arrangements. Priority will be given to the following:
• Children of healthcare workers
• Children of low / daily wage workers employed in essential services
5 For parents/guardians working in essential services and are unable to find
alternative care during this period, please inform your preschool by 6 April 2020 (Monday) if you need services.
6 In line
with this, all Development Support and Learning support (DS-LS) and Development
Support-Plus (DS-Plus) interventions in the preschools will be suspended. Early
Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) centres will remain
open only to a limited group of children with higher needs that require face to
face interventions, while the rest will be supported online.
Support with subsidies
7 The Early
Childhood Development agency (ECDA) will continue to disburse infant/child care
subsidies and KiFAS in full to applicable preschools, and automatically waive
the minimum 1-day attendance and its qualifying requirements (e.g. payment of
fees) for the month of April.
8 MOE and MSF will continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation and to review the measures. Please refer to the joint press release for details:https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/schools-and-institutes-of-higher-learning-to-shift-to-full-home-based-learning-preschools-and-student-care-centres-to-suspend-general-services
9 We
understand that many families will be affected by this measure. Since January 2020, we have steadily
implemented precautionary measures in preschools to safeguard the health and
wellbeing of children and staff. Despite
best efforts, the rising number of local COVID-19 cases in Singapore
necessitates a further tightening of our measures and for us to do more to protect
our children and staff.
10 The fight
against COVID-19 requires the collective effort of every single person in the
preschool community. In the best
interest of your child and family, we strongly advise you to keep your child at
home during this period and avoid going out unnecessarily, except to purchase
daily necessities, essential services, or for urgent medical needs. There
should be no social gatherings; and social contact should be confined to
immediate family members during this period.
11 Please
monitor your child for fever (e.g. body temperature more than 37.5°C) and/or
respiratory symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, cough and breathlessness.
If your child is unwell, see a doctor immediately and inform the preschool.
12 We know that this is a challenging time for many, and an unprecedented one for us
all. Now more than ever, we need to come
together as a community because as SG United, we can beat the virus together.
Thank you.
Early Childhood Development Agency
Click here for updates on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019).
