Telecommuting/remote teaching for vulnerable school staff

NAME AND CONSTITUENCY OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Chua Chu Kang GRC

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Education given the rise in community COVID-19 cases, whether the option for telecommuting or remote teaching can be made available for teachers or staff who fall within the vulnerable group like pregnant women, elderly or those with immune deficiency.

RESPONSE

1. MOE aligns our workforce arrangements for teachers and staff with the workforce advisories issued by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF), Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Public Service Division (PSD).

2. With the return of all students to schools on a daily basis since 29 June 2020, we will need teachers and staff to be physically present to support school operations, and to ensure that the learning of our students is not disrupted. We have put in place stringent safe management measures to ensure that schools remain a safe environment for both staff and students.

3. The schools will exercise flexibility on work arrangement where operationally feasible. For example, school staff may be allowed to:

1. Report/leave at staggered hours if they have no lessons or duties assigned for the start/end of the school day; or
2. Work from home on a day where they have no physical classes or other assigned duties requiring their physical presence in school.

4. In addition, schools pay close attention to school staff who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19, such as staff with underlying medical conditions or pregnancy with complications. Extra care is taken when considering their deployment. For example, they are not assigned to roles with greater exposure such as taking temperature at the school gate. We will continue to make every effort to ensure the well-being of our staff and minimise the risk of exposure.