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SCHOOL'S NOT OUT: Children at Church of the Holy Trinity Kindergarten line up to be checked by teachers for mouth ulcers. It was classes as usual at the Tampines centre. -- ST PHOTO: SHAHRIYA YAHAYA
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MOST childcare centres and preschools that have been asked to shut down temporarily to break the transmission of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) among their charges aren't doing so.
The Straits Times checked 32 centres which the Ministry of Health (MOH) had urged to voluntarily shut down. The findings: At least 20 do not see the need to do so, chiefly because they do not want to cause panic among parents and disrupt classes.
Closing the school for 10 days would also disrupt the school curriculum, with teachers and pupils having to make up for their studies during the holidays.
Del-Care Edu Centre in Anson Road, which had seven HFMD cases from April 7 to April 28, said not all parents of its 107 children wanted the school to close.
Principal Jeanette Tan said: 'Because many parents work, they will find it quite troublesome to get alternative care for 10 full days.'
The Church of the Holy Trinity Kindergarten in Tampines, which has 270 pupils, is also staying open.
It recorded seven cases last month and one more this month, but principal Shirley Tan said there was no cause for alarm. 'These affected children belong to different classes, so there is no worry of any cross-infection,' she added.
Centres are asked to voluntarily close down if transmission continues for 15 days. If in this time, at least 13 children fall ill, then closure is mandatory.
The incubation period for the virus is about three to five days. It typically takes between five and seven days for a child to recover fully.
Some operators thought it was unfair that the schools should be made to close as the children could have caught the bug elsewhere.
Ms Dora Lai of PCF Canberra in Sembawang Close said: 'We often find new cases coming up after a weekend...Our centre may be very clean, but we cannot control what is out there.'
Mrs Mary Gay, principal of Bedok Lutheran Church Kindergarten, had six children falling ill but reckoned that the numbers might have been inflated by doctors who have to report HFMD cases to the MOH.
They could be 'playing it safe'' by diagnosing children with harmless ulcers as having HFMD so as not to let a genuine case slip through the net, she suggested.
But the ministry said doctors were unlikely to get the diagnosis wrong as symptoms are fairly obvious.
Parents of children at the centres which stayed open were quite happy to leave decisions on closure to the principals or the ministry.
Housewife Eunice Chiang, who is in her early 30s and has a six-year-old son in Holy Trinity Kindergarten, said: 'If the school is still open, then it is probably safe as the principal would know best.'
Businessman Tommy Koh, 45, whose two children are at Bedok Lutheran Church Kindergarten agreed: 'If there's anything wrong, then the Government will close it down.'
The few schools which have heeded the ministry's advice include Soka Kindergarten in Tampines. Principal Angelina Low said: 'Some parents have requested us to open our school earlier, but we told them we are following the MOH directive.'
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