Preschools & Kindergartens To Start In July. Here’s What You Need To Know
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With preschools, kindergartens, tadikas, and tabikas scheduled to reopen beginning July 1 comes a set of Covid-19 guidelines to ensure that a safe and healthy environment is maintained to allow for education to take place.
Here’s what you need to know regarding the official government standard operating procedures (SOPs);
- Students are no longer required to bring along their equipment, backpack, and lunch boxes to school unless it’s allowed by school administrators.
- Students are encouraged to wear face masks.
- Parents are strictly prohibited from entering school premises and must be punctual at sending and picking up their kids, on time.
- No outsiders are to be allowed access during learning activities.
- Mandatory temperature checks for students attending classes; students with temperatures of 37.5⁰C and above are to be isolated or immediately sent home.
- Schools must ensure that there is a separate room available to be used to isolate sick students before parents can take them home.
- All textile materials such as carpets, rugs, table cloths are strictly prohibited and must be removed from the classroom setting.
- Outdoor school facilities are off-limits and all activities are to be done within the classroom setting.
- School trips, educational tours, and visits are banned.
- Schools would need to maintain a clean and hygienic learning environment by making sure that classrooms and equipment are cleaned and sanitized before and after each class session.
- Students must be made to maintain their hygiene; made to wash their hands before and after each activity.
- Social distancing must be maintained; students are to sit separately with no physical contact with other students during all school activities or share the same stationery and equipment, including during recess, where students are not allowed to share their meals and must be provided with their own separate eating utensils that are cleaned before and after every meal.
- Teachers and their assistance are to brief parents and educate students on the importance of hygiene and social distancing.
Despite the strict set of guidelines, there are those who still think that it is too early for the government to be allowing preschools and kindergartens to reopen.
The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) feels that schools across the country are unprepared and lack facilities, equipment, manpower as well as funding to abide by government SOP.
However, the Education Ministry (MOE) maintains its stance on the reopening due to the fact that working parents simply need to send their kids to school.
MOE explained that the government was fully prepared for any eventualities and if any problems should arise, they would be dealt with accordingly.
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