(This blog is dedicated to the the parents and students of Mee Toh Primary School)
Parents of Mee Toh Primary are facing many challenging issues at the start of the year when the single session is being introduced. Much publicity has been generated across social & print media during this 2 weeks. Many parents are concern on the operation guidelines ranging from school time table to shortening of recess timing. I would like to point out a few issues that I came across as a parent.
Firstly, the human traffic congestion at Gate 2 was chaotic. Both P1 & P2 are being released at Gate 2 compound and the parents assembled ranges from 150-200 based on a 1-to-1 (parent to student) ratio at a given time. A 15-minute wait becomes a 30-minute struggle everyday just to fetch our kids. But parent traffic at Gate 1 was not congested at all because some of the upper primary students make their way back themselves. By directing either P1 or P2 to Gate 1 will definitely reduce the congestion. If you are present at Gate 2, you would understand the frustration that parents are going through everyday.
Secondly, recess time has unintentionally being reduced to about 15 minutes due to the over crowding of the canteen. Different classes are being released at a different time interval and thus, affecting the usual 30-minute break. My kids have to que for about 5-10 minutes to purchase their food and left with only 5 minutes to have their meals. I was there on the first day and the process was really very disorganized and messy. Be prepare to expect 500-600 students, P1 + P2, queing for food during the 15-minute recess.
Thirdly, we are no longer allow to enter the school on raining days unlike last year. I can imagine how inconvenient & frustrated it'll be on a raining day when i am there to fetch my kids.
Many times my child's class was held back due to a reason or another (student missing wallet, school work not finish and not handed up, etc) resulting to recess time being shortened. They had either to gobble their food or skip recess. When they return to ISH late, their names were taken down by the prefects who did not even bother to listen to their explanations. And due to that, they had no time to visit the loo.
ReplyDeleteOne of the teachers (Chinese teacher) did not allow them to visit the loo after recess saying they are eating into their time.
My child had many episodes of stomach discomfort and gastric due to the above course, many times almost resulted to urinary tract infection and is very afraid of drinking water for fear that toilet visit would be denied. This has also resulted to frequent dehydration leading to headaches and unability to focus and feeling lethargic.
I am wondering if MOE is aware that schools and teachers are doing this, creating fear in these helpless children, perhaps even jeopardizing their health?