SCHOOL'S OUT: Principal of Just Kids@Jurong Chen Sihui informing parents of the impending 10-day closure yesterday. -- ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG |
WITH some pre-schools and childcare centres shut for disinfection for 10 days, parents are scrambling to make alternative childcare arrangements.
But few will be going as far as travel agent Wendy Tee, 28, who will be leaving for Malacca with her son Brandon tomorrow. Her mother will care for the boy during this period.
The two-year-old attends Just Kids@Jurong, one of the 17 pre-schools and childcare centres to close temporarily following outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
Said Madam Tee: 'My husband and I can't apply for leave on such short notice and there is no one here to take care of my son.'
She was told of the school's closure - effective today - when she arrived at the school with her son yesterday morning.
Other parents The Straits Times spoke to said they will either take leave from work or arrange for grandparents or maids to take over the childcare duties.
Meanwhile, the 17 childcare centres got ready for their big clean-up today.
Ramakrishna Mission Sarada Kindergarten in Bartley Road, which shut yesterday, asked its staff to scrub the floors.
The Compassvale and Anchorvale branches of NTUC Childcare and Pat's Schoolhouse in Halifax Road have hired professional cleaners; others are pooling resources to disinfect their premises.
At the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sengkang West Kindergarten, staff will wipe down the furniture with disinfectant, scrub the floors and toilets as well as sanitise the toys.
Most of the centres The Straits Times spoke to said they were not facing too many objections from parents about 'lost' lessons.
The Al-Istiqamah Mosque Kindergarten, for instance, may hold make-up lessons for its pre-schoolers when they return on May 5.
NTUC Childcare manager Adeline Tan said that if working parents could not make alternative childcare arrangements, staff from the two shut branches may be sent to their homes to help out.
To keep the young ones occupied, some centres have handed out worksheets.
While most parents supported the closure, others seemed indifferent to the risk of spreading the illness. On receiving notice that school was out, some parents at the PCF Tampines East Kindergarten took their kids to a nearby playground.
Ms Shirley Tan, principal of Holy Trinity Kindergarten in Tampines, said: 'Parents must be responsible for their kids and towards other kids. Don't take the closure as a holiday and take them on outings.'
Housewife Marissa Koh, 40, said she was not worried about her three-year-old daughter catching the virus because she thinks a bout would boost her immunity.
But paediatrician Low Kah Tzay advised parents against being so cavalier as there were 'innumerable' strains of HFMD and that coming down with it did not necessarily protect a child against it.
He revealed that one in five of his HFMD patients is suffering repeat infections, adding: 'Parents should keep their children at home to break the cycle. That's the whole purpose of shutting down the centres in the first place.'
leepq@sph.comsg
jessicaj@sph.com.sg
sumathis@sph.c om.sg
|
