Lim Tean wants all schools closed because of Covid-19

Singapore – All schools should be closed because of Covid-19, according to lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean.

Mr Lim, who is the founding leader of the People’s Voice party, shared his opinion on the need to close schools to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in a Facebook post on Friday (Feb 21).

He wrote:

“Close Schools! Why do you think Peoples Voice keeps demanding that our schools and educational institutions close! Already one Victoria Junior College teacher was infected. Two students at St James Kindergarten were served with home quarantine orders, and a couple of days ago, the Mother of 2 young pre-schoolers was diagnosed with the virus. We need to close schools!!!!”

According to news he shared from Singapore Uncensored, a student from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Friday (Feb 21). Attached to the article was an email advisory from the SIT Registrar, which said:

“Dear Students,
“We have been informed that an SIT student has been diagnosed with Covid-19. The affected student is currently in stable condition.

“We are working closely with the authorities to conduct contact tracing. As a precautionary measure, we have placed staff and students who have come into close contact with the affected student on a 14-day Leave of Absence (LOA). We will continue to monitor the daily health condition of those on LOA and render any necessary support.

“Our priority is to safeguard the health and safety of our students and staff. Since the declaration of DORSCON Orange, we have stepped up our precautionary measures and implemented an enhanced cleaning regime. As an additional precaution, all areas that the affected student has come into contact with are currently being deep-cleaned and thoroughly disinfected.

“We will provide an update later this evening, when we have more information.

“Yours sincerely,
Professor Chua Kee Chaing
Deputy President (Academic) & Provost”

Beginning (Monday) Feb 24, SIT will start to implement e-learning classes for more than 50 students, according to channelnewsasia.com on Friday (Feb 21). Subjects that cannot be taught online, such as laboratory classes, will be broken down into smaller sessions as a safety measure.

Among those who responded to Mr Lim’s post, there was agreement that schools be closed.

One person, however, felt that there was no need to close schools since “Singapore is not as bad as China”. Mr Lim suggested that the person was “over-confident” or perhaps did not have children.

Another person suggested that emails be sent to various principals urging them to close their schools.

/TISG