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Students and staff who are currently placed in quarantine, or received Leave of Absence (LOA) or Approved Absence (AA) notices will now be able to return to school for lessons, provided they test negative for Covid-19 on the day they go to school.

This will begin from Oct. 11 onwards.

On Sunday (Oct. 10), the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced a number of updates to Covid-19 precautionary measures for schools and institutes of higher learning (IHL).

It said that these new measures are in line with the updates to national protocols made by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Seven-day health risk warning for close contacts

From Oct. 11 onwards, MOE will no longer issue LOA or AA for primary schools, secondary schools, special education (SPED) schools, junior colleges (JCs) or Millenia Institute.

Those who have had close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case will be issued a seven-day health risk warning, which means they will be able to return to school during the seven days if they continue to be well, and have a negative Antigen Rapid Test (ART) result before they leave for school daily.

According to MOE, IHLs will also take alignments with MOH's revised protocols, "in line with the national approach to living with Covid-19".

This is an overview of the updated categories of precautionary measures in schools and IHLs:

Updates to national examination arrangements

MOE will also update the examination arrangements for candidates taking their upcoming GCE-Level national year-end examinations, starting from Oct. 11.

Candidates on HRW, who are well, will be allowed to sit for their national year-end examinations, including the science practical examinations, and can take public transport to and from their examination venue.

However, they must meet a number of requirements.

Candidates must inform schools of their intent to sit for their examinations, and also ensure that they meet MOH's test protocol requirements.

These include testing negative for their ART on the first day, testing negative for ART on the day of their examinations, before leaving their home, and showing a photo of their ART kits with the negative test result to the invigilators.

Safe management measures for exam candidates

Strict safe management measures (SMMs) will also be in place at the examination venues for candidates on HRW.

They will be seated in separate rooms, venues or laboratories from other candidates, and will also be required to sit at least three metres away from other candidates for the written examinations.

Candidates who are on medical leave will also be allowed to sit for the national year-end examinations, if they have fully recovered.

On the day of their examination, they must take a self-swab ART at home, and show a photograph of their ART kits with negative result to the invigilators on arrival.

This is an overview of the updated arrangements, effective from Oct. 11:

Candidates may apply for special consideration

Similar to previous years, candidates who miss any national examination papers with valid reasons, including Covid-19 related, medical leave or compassionate reasons, can apply for special consideration.

This will allow candidates to be awarded projected grades based on a number of factors, such as the candidate's performance in the other papers for that affected subject in national and school-based examinations, as well as the school cohort's performance in national and school-based examinations.

"All special consideration applications are assessed on each case’s merit, to ensure that the grades awarded are as accurate and fair as possible," said MOE.

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Top image via MOE/FB.