Hansard Explorer

Ms Lee Hui Ying asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many preschools are not equipped with enclosed air-conditioned spaces that are suitable for use during haze episodes; and (b) what measures are being taken to help them comply with current haze guidance, including air purifiers, temporary alternative facilities and support for young children with respiratory conditions.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many preschools are naturally ventilated and operate without air-conditioning; (b) whether haze mitigation measures in such preschools have been assessed for their impact on indoor temperature, ventilation, and the well-being of children and educators; and (c) whether additional measures will be considered during prolonged haze episodes.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Social and Family Development with regard to preschools remaining open when the 24-hour PSI forecast exceeds 300 (a) how many Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)-licensed preschools lack air-conditioned indoor spaces, including Anchor and Partner Operator centres; (b) what minimum room size or maximum occupancy guidelines, if any, apply to the conduct of preschool activities in enclosed rooms with air purifiers; and (c) how does ECDA verify preschools' haze readiness.

The Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development (Mr Goh Pei Ming) (for the Minister for Social and Family Development): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to address Question Nos 60, 61 and 62 in today's Order Paper filed by Members Ms Lee Hui Ying, Mr Saktiandi Supaat, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim together, as they pertain to haze management measures in preschools.

Mr Speaker: Please proceed.

Mr Goh Pei Ming: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) seeks to reduce children's and educators' exposure to air pollution while safeguarding their well-being, and minimising disruption to children's learning and development. The haze management measures apply to all preschools, including those that do not use air conditioning and are similar to those adopted in the Ministry of Education (MOE) schools.

More than nine in 10 preschools have air-conditioning in part or all of their premises. That said, air-conditioning is not required for haze management, as conventional air-conditioning filters are generally not effective at removing fine PM2.5 particles. Instead, all preschools are required to have air purifiers to cover key teaching and learning spaces used by children during the haze periods.

During periods of haze, preschools without air-conditioning use fans to support air circulation and indoor comfort, doors and windows may be opened when the most recent one-hour PM2.5 reading is within the normal band. To minimise the impact of haze on children and educators, preschools plan the next day's activities based on the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) forecast and adjust the activities as air quality changes. All outdoor activities cease when the forecast exceeds 200, and during daily operations, all indoor physical activities cease when the latest one-hour PM2.5 reading reaches the very high band.

Preschools have been advised to make appropriate adjustments to support educators' well-being, including ensuring adequate rest periods, providing support to staff who may be more affected by haze and reviewing staffing arrangements where feasible. For children with chronic lung or heart conditions or respiratory problems, preschools are required to identify them early and ensure that medication is readily accessible.

Additional precautions are taken if the air quality deteriorates and an enclosed well-ventilated room equipped with a functioning air purifier must be available for children who become unwell. ECDA requires preschools to maintain the prescribed minimum floor space per infant and child to allow for teaching and learning and gross motor activities. This varies depending on the age of the children being cared for and hours of service. For example, preschools providing childcare are required to have at least three square metres of teaching and learning space per child. The floor space requirement remains the same even when spaces are enclosed.

ECDA verifies preschools' haze preparedness through readiness checks via a survey and unannounced inspections of preschools.

Mr Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, I just got two supplementary questions to Senior Minister of State. When a preschool without air-conditioning, for example, has to keep its windows closed for several hours during the haze, what signs or readings should educators use to decide whether a classroom is too hot or too poorly ventilated for children to stay within? I ask this question because a few parents came up to me when the PSI readings were high, and in my area, there were a few preschools with no air-conditioning, and it gets quite warm for the children.

So, the question is, what measures can be taken in terms of retrofitting the schools to make sure that when we have this seasonal thing happening every year, such a situation does not happen again for our preschool children.

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Speaker, to the Member's question, I certainly hope that the haze will not be an every-year affair.

Over the last two weeks, I visited a number of preschools to understand the adoption of haze management measures and how it is being implemented on the ground and how our children, our educators are being affected. I made it a point specifically to visit more non-air-conditioned centres.

What I observed is reassuring. What I saw was on the ground, educators were making good judgement, closer observation of the children and when needed, they will open the doors and windows to ventilate the space. There are many fans, a lot of ventilation measures being put in place. Huge fans, windows, doors when they can; and I did not observe in my various visits very sweaty children, for example. The children are still very active, are still attentive in class and learning has not been affected.

I also noticed that across different centres, they all have various operational coping measures, unique to the centre, unique to their facilities. For instance, one centre that I visited, majority of the rooms were non-air-conditioned, but they had one central room which is actually where their playroom was, which is air-conditioned. And what they do is, during that day of operation, because the children were not allowed to go outdoors, they cycled their children through the indoor air-conditioned space and that is where they got their playtime as well as a cooling measure through the air-conditioning in that one room. Through that they are actually able to manage. The children, when I spoke to them, I asked them whether they had concerns, I did not get a complaint from the children. They were all very happy to share with me what they were doing in school.

I also asked the centres, the educators, the principals, whether they observed more children falling sick or whether there was higher absenteeism within the centres. What was assuring was that there was nothing above the norm. In fact, the attendance was normal, the classes were very full. Educators shared with me that a few weeks prior to – my visits were over the last two weeks – so just a couple of weeks prior to that, actually the attendance was affected by the influenza season. And since then, attendance has come back up and the children, parents were generally comfortable with the measures within the centres.

I will share with the House that one of the feedback that I have gotten from parents as well as children is the impact on outdoor playtime. In certain centres, they do take precaution, even when the reading is close to the threshold, they do make the judgement not to go outdoors to play. And this is where children are naturally a little bit disappointed that they lose the ability to go out there under the sun and play.

Like what I said earlier, this is something that different centres find different ways to adapt and cope with, such as the indoor playroom where they are able to accommodate. But I think this is something that the children are disappointed with and the centres adapt accordingly. But through that opportunity that is missed, there are also opportunities that I noticed within the centres. Many educators are taking this chance to educate our children in terms of environment, about what the PSI reading is about and how do we make accommodations, how do we improvise and innovate just to make learning more fun and innovative. A lot more indoor games were invented as a process of this.

So, this is a summary of the conversations I had with the centres, with the children, with the educators. Generally, I think they are coping well.

Mr Speaker: Ms Lee Hui Ying.

Ms Lee Hui Ying: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State. I just have one quick question. Does ECDA intend to provide financial support, even technical assistance and guidance, for preschools to ensure consistency on the type, capacity and placements of air purifiers as well as maintenance to make sure that air quality and temperatures are suitable and effective in the rooms?

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Speaker, to the Member's question, the provision of air purifiers in our centres – this is a requirement for all our centres to put in place air purifiers in all key learning and teaching spaces – it is a requirement as part of their operations. ECDA has no current plans to provide any subsidy on provision of purifiers.

Across the anchor operators, the partner operators, in fact all the preschools that I have visited and the key management that I have spoken with, generally they are able to support this condition imposed by ECDA and have no concerns about it.

1.50 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of extended Question Time. Introduction of Government Bills.

[ Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix. ]