SINGAPORE - Two primary schools - Fuchun Primary and Frontier Primary - moved to home-based learning (HBL) two days early, on Monday (May 17), after a teacher and a pupil tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.

The shift to HBL until the end of the school term on May 28 is to prevent the risk of Covid-19 transmission in the schools, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a statement on Monday.

Another pupil from Maha Bodhi School who tested positive on Sunday had been quarantined earlier, from last Friday, as she had attended the same external student care centre as an earlier confirmed case, said MOE.

The ministry said the pupil from Fuchun Primary who tested positive on Sunday was well when he was in school last Wednesday.

He had been quarantined from that day, as a member of his household had tested positive, said MOE.

The teacher from Frontier Primary, who had also tested positive on Sunday, was also well when she was in school last Friday.

She developed acute respiratory infection symptoms later that day and went to see a doctor in the evening. Investigations and contact tracing by the Ministry of Health (MOH) are ongoing, said MOE.

The ministry said it was in contact with the schools to provide the necessary support for teachers and students in conducting online learning, after both schools moved to home-based learning from Monday.

As for the pupil from Maha Bodhi School, she had developed symptoms after being quarantined, and MOH does not require contact tracing among school contacts, said MOE.

"(Thus), the school will continue with physical lessons from May 17 to May 18, before starting full HBL on May 19," it added.

The student was well when she was in school last Wednesday. She was placed on a quarantine order two days later, as she had attended Seedlings World Student Care @ Frankel, which an earlier confirmed case from St Stephen's School also went to.

The St Stephen's boy had attended classes run by a private tutor at Learning Point Tuition Centre in Parkway Centre. The cluster linked to the tutor had 18 confirmed cases as at Sunday.

The announcement comes a day after MOE said that all schools will start full home-based learning from Wednesday until May 28, when the school term ends, amid a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases in the community.

This applies to all primary, secondary and junior college students, as well as those from Millennia Institute and special education schools.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said that more than 90 per cent of students in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute turned up as usual on Monday.

He said that this was "a testimony to parents' and students' confidence in the system".

Teachers he met at Cantonment Primary School, which he visited on Monday, told him that they are more confident and better equipped for HBL, compared with during last year's circuit breaker, he wrote.

"Full home-based learning is never an easy task for our school leaders and teachers. I thank them for swinging into action at short notice to update the teaching materials, adjust the schedules, check the learning devices, and many more tasks to best take care of our students," he added.