All school trips to China postponed: MOE
All school trips to China from primary to tertiary level have been postponed, said Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung in Parliament yesterday.
This was in response to Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC), who had asked if there would be postponement or review of overseas school trips.
Mr Ong added that MOE will monitor cases of virus outbreaks in other countries as well and take further precautions if needed.
In addition to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, there is also the H5N1 bird flu in the neighbouring Chinese province of Hunan, and in Chhattisgarh, India.
He said educators have also developed a lesson package to teach students about the coronavirus, how it is transmitted, and what they can do to prevent transmission.
This includes washing their hands frequently with soap and not touching their faces.
Mr Ong said: "We want to tell students that in this fight with the Wuhan novel coronavirus, we're going to fight it with our hands by washing them constantly and keeping them away from our faces."
In a statement on Jan 23, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said there are currently no school trips to Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, and there are no trips to China this month.
A total of 115 staff members and 852 students across schools, polytechnics, and Institute of Technical Education colleges who recently travelled to mainland China were issued leave of absence, MOE said last Friday.
Students on such leave will be supported via a Home-Based Learning plan, said MOE.
Teachers will assign work from the textbook and workbook to help affected students keep up with their classmates.
Students will also have access to the Singapore Student Learning Space, an online platform with a range of curriculum-aligned resources to help them while they are on leave. - ADELINE TAN
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