Dear MOE (Attn: Ong Ye Kung),
With reference to the recent article:
No plans to close schools for now, says Education Minister Ong Ye Kung
It was observed that your decision was for all schools to carry on as usual, despite various online petitions going against it.
Recently, NUS had announced that ONLY classes at affected NUS professor's faculty to be conducted online:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/coronavirus-all-classes-at-affected-nus-professors-faculty-to-be-conducted-online
I would like to seek your advice on your plan for the containment of the COVID-19 epidemic for schools. In short, what are you waiting for?
Are you waiting for confirmed cases in schools before you would move the students to SLS (Student Learning Space)? Or are you waiting for some deaths to occur first?
In the event that there is a confirmed case or death in a school, are you going to instruct all schools to move to SLS? Or just that particular affected school?
Or, are you going to allow ONLY that particular affected class to do SLS?
Yes, Singapore has a great crisis management and reporting mechanism, unfortunately, it fell greatly behind other countries in terms of its determination on the containment of the COVID-19 virus. Other countries, far behind Singapore in terms of confirmed cases, had already stopped schools, and even extended the closure, yet Singapore continued school as usual!
China had proven to us that COVID-19, apart from being more contagious, had also killed far more people than SARS, and it is still increasing.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/09/coronavirus-china-death-toll-for-new-virus-exceeds-that-of-sars.html
Many parents had provided great suggestions, including SLS, moving March holiday or June holiday forward. Why didn't you adopt any of those? Is it too troublesome for you to make changes to keep children safe?
Taking a step back, have you ever wondered why there is such a strong call to keep the children safe NOW?
People with lower intellectual ability and lower analytical skill tend to attribute this to the fear of the novel virus, and I sincerely hope that you are not one of them as that is ABSOLUTELY WRONG!
In case you are one of them, let me explain it to you. Please pay attention.
The whole episode of this COVID-19 started in Singapore around end of January 2020. Following that, there were a lot of cries for government to stop mass activities, including the following:
4th Feb 2020: Multiple CNY mass celebrations, throughout Singapore (such as this)
PM Lee Doing Lo-Hei
7th Feb 2020: Loyang Tua Pek Kong - Chinese New Year -Yuan Xiao Celebration 2020, where a petition calling for a stop failed (https://www.yan.sg/yuanxiaohounlmingjiaotimg/)
11-16 Feb 2020: Singapore Airshow 2020
Sadly, all of those cries had fallen on deaf ears. Today, we are currently seeing outbreaks in churches. If you were to look at the timeline carefully, if any of the earlier mass gatherings were to have any outbreaks, NOW would be the time when many of the attendees are starting to show mild flu-like symptoms.
Can you imagine this: If parents who attended the events were infected, they are likely to start exhibiting mild symptoms and infecting their children now, and those children, may not have any symptoms, and they are still going to school in the next 2 weeks...
Mr Ong Ye Kung, you are the BIG BOSS, you have the final say. I had highlighted to you the huge risk that you are taking and subjecting everyone to, as well as how you could avoid those potential issues by moving kids away from school for the next 2 weeks. At the minimum, do this for primary schools as they are the most vulnerable.
By not stopping mass gatherings timely, Singapore had already missed the 1st Golden Containment opportunity. Being the top infected country outside of China is the proof of this.
The next 2-weeks is the 2nd Containment opportunity, and it is crucial to move students away from one another.
People had been highlighting this risk since the beginning of Feb 2020. We all know that you have a major event, Singapore Airshow 2020, to take into consideration, to not cause fear among the delegates and attendees, as well as not to have any potential financial impact for Singapore.
However, the Airshow would be ending this week and I sincerely hope that you would take some time this weekend for some serious considerations - Move children away from school for the next 2 weeks.
Event such as Mobile World Congress (MWC) was also called off, and in the article, it was stated: "To take this risk would be irresponsible."
As a responsible organisation, I hope you can exhibit the corresponding responsibility, and not subject our kids to such unnecessary risks.
Again, you are the BIG BOSS, you have the final say. If you still insist on NOT keeping children safe and away from school for the next 2 weeks, and if there are any students being infected, especially via the mass gatherings mentioned above, I can assure you that all parents will point their fingers at you.
And when they do, I can also assure you that it will not just be the index finger.
You had been warned. We, as parents, shall hold you wholly responsible for the risks that you are subjecting our children to.
For your serious reconsideration, with the backdrop that Singapore Airshow 2020 would be ending this week.
Regards,
XimplifyIt