Before home-based learning (HBL) kicked in, schools were worried that children who came from disadvantaged homes would start lagging behind their peers.
Schools prepared by finding out which students needed laptops and tablets. Teachers also made arrangements for a small number of children who wanted to do their learning in school.
A month on, schools say that the “learning” part of the equation has turned out to be the least of their problems.
The bigger issue for students is that real life has intruded. With the loss of income, others have had to fret about going hungry. Others, whose parents are in front-line jobs, worry about the risks from the coronavirus.
In many cases, their teachers also become their confidants and counsellors.
More than a dozen school officials said that these students and their families will need to be monitored and helped long after HBL is over.
Madam Cassie Fan, principal of Stamford Primary, recounts a boy whose single mother lost her job as an administrator and became a food delivery rider.
The school reached out to community partners to seek help, including arranging food rations for the family. It is also helping the mother in her search for a more stable job.
Similarly, Serangoon Garden Secondary has seen their families facing financial difficulties.
The school’s student welfare officer Jayakumar Narayanasamy received a call from a student asking about food rations that his family receives through the school.
He said: “The rations weren’t going to be available for another week, so I probed further and found out that his grandmother whom they lived with, has had to close her stall selling cakes. They had no money to buy food or groceries.”
Mr Jayakumar, his level head and principal discussed how they could help and within a few hours “Mr Jay” did a grocery run for the family.
Clinical psychologist Carol Balhetchet, who served as senior director of youth services at Singapore Children’s Society, said that schools are an important line of defence for children. “Schools must meet their basic needs for food, shelter and security and only then will a child be able to learn well, whether the learning is at school or at home.”
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Source: The Straits Times, 2 May 2020