Less than 10 per cent of students and staff did not return to school yesterday - the first day back after the week-long March holidays - after being placed on a 14-day leave of absence or stay-home notice.

Those returning from trips abroad during the holidays had to stay home as part of stricter national measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The leave of absence applies to students and staff of schools, pre-schools and student care centres who returned to Singapore on or after March 14.

Students who have to miss classes will be put on home-based learning.

Ms Liew Wei Li, director of schools at the Ministry of Education (MOE), said: "The affected numbers are manageable. Even after taking into account students on medical leave, the average attendance of schools remains high at around 90 per cent."

For those who did go back to school yesterday, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said additional safe distancing measures were in place in schools, citing exam-style and fixed group cluster seating.

"Schools seemed a bit quieter, with some students serving their leave of absence or stay-home notice," Mr Ong said in a Facebook post. "But they all took the precautionary measures in their stride. They understand that the measures are necessary to keep them safe."

At Pei Chun Public School in Toa Payoh, pupils were seen queueing about 1m apart when buying food at the canteen during recess, following markings on the floor.

MOE said schools are able to facilitate home-based learning via various modes that best suit the needs of students. This includes online learning on the Singapore Student Learning Space that contains educational materials and resources. Assignments can be issued using textbooks and workbooks, e-mailing students materials and sending them hard-copy packages. Teachers can also explore the use of real-time video conferencing so those at home can tune in to the lesson.

Yesterday, some parents took steps to avoid the morning crowd, while others said they hoped students could opt for home-based learning.

Housewife Joanna Tan, 40, who usually takes a public bus with her Primary 1 daughter to school, left her home 10 minutes earlier yesterday to catch a less crowded bus, and arrived at the school at 7am.

"After school, we also walked to one bus stop (away) so we wouldn't have to wait with crowds of people," she added.

Madam Priscilla Yeow, 44, said her Secondary 2 son and Primary 6 daughter went to school yesterday, but "we are definitely worried".

"The situation around the world is very bad. But I think our Government has implemented good border controls and schools are taking a lot of precautions like suspending co-curricular activities," she noted.

Madam Yeow, who helps in a family business, said suspending school will have a great impact on working parents. "If everybody is socially responsible, obeys the stay-home notice if they go overseas, it should be all right," she said.

But the spike in the number of imported cases last week made some parents like Madam Diana Ismail decide to keep their children at home.

The 41-year-old business owner has four sons, in pre-school, primary and secondary schools.

"My concern is some parents went abroad and are on stay-home notice, but their children can still go to school if they didn't travel," she said.

She suggested extending the March school break by a week or two, and using the June holidays to make up for lost curriculum time.

Another parent, housewife Claire Chan, 40, had kept her two children - one in kindergarten and the other in primary school - at home for almost a month, starting from Jan 28.

"Both my children have asthma. They routinely experience complications leading to pneumonia from simple viral infections. We cannot afford to have them sick," she said.

She let her son go back to school to sit term tests at the end of last month. By then, she said, the school had safety precautions in place, such as getting pupils to wash their hands diligently and wipe down their classrooms with disinfectant.

Ms Wang Peiqi, 36, and her family are on a stay-home notice after returning from Thailand last Wednesday. The sales executive, whose sons are aged five and 10, said she is waiting for more instructions from their schools on home-based learning. Her older son's form teacher video-calls her daily to check on his temperature and to make sure he is at home.

"It is safer to be at home than to risk any possible spread because we don't know if we have the virus."