Govt has responsibility to parents to 'maintain high standards' across preschools: Desmond Lee
PCF Sparkletots @ Fengshan Blk 126 as seen on March 26, 2020. The preschool will be closed from March 24 to April 7 due to a Covid-19 outbreak.
SINGAPORE — The Government owes parents a responsibility to “maintain high standards” across all preschools so that they can have “peace of mind” when they go to work, Mr Desmond Lee, Minister of Social and Family Development, said on Thursday (March 26).
“Preschools are an essential service in Singapore. Parents entrust their children to our preschool sector so they have peace of mind when they go to work,” he told reporters.
“Some parents have alternative caregiving arrangements readily available, but many do not, that’s why they avail themselves of childcare, including full-day childcare.”
This includes workers on the frontlines, such as hospital staff members, general practitioners, and others such as cleaners, those in the food-and-beverage sector and public transport, he said.
Mr Lee’s remarks followed Wednesday’s report by the Ministry of Health, which indicated a new cluster of 18 cases linked to the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots centre in Fengshan, Bedok North.
Fourteen of the 18 cases are employees at the preschool, including the principal of the centre. Four of the other cases are family members of the principal.
In an update, Mr Lee told reporters that another staff member of the preschool, a teacher, was confirmed on Thursday to have been infected by the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, PCF announced that it would close all of its centres for four days from Thursday to review and reiterate its enhanced precautionary measures with staff members and to clean and disinfect premises.
The Fengshan centre will close for two weeks, and all children and employees present at the centre from March 16 to 24 are on quarantine.
On why all PCF centres will close for four days instead of 14, Mr Lee said that other centres “have not had lots of infected individuals”. Thus, there is no need to account for the 14-day incubation period.
However, he noted parents’ concern about their children’s wellbeing, with some parents deciding to take their children out of their preschools.
To accommodate this, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) decided to waive the one-day monthly attendance requirement for parents to qualify for preschool subsidies.
At the same time, the Government is not opposed to adopting more drastic measures, “if there is a sign of growing community transmission”.
“We will have to consider more measures, including... more drastic measures, which could include closures of some workplaces, as well as closures of preschools, schools,” Mr Lee said. CNA
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