Physical Sports & Dance CCA Capacity Limit Will Be Reduced from 50 to 30; Group Sizes Drop from 5 to 2

Most of us have fond memories of being able to play around with our classmates and friends in an intense match of dodgeball to the death or participating in Sports Day while we were still in school.

Not to mention meeting new friends while striving together with a common interest in CCAs and bonding with your entire team.

Sadly, in recent years with the COVID-19 pandemic raging on, what used to be activities that highlighted our school years are done differently for students now, who won’t get to experience many things.

And due to the recent spike in cases from some KTV lovers, restrictions in schools will have to be tightened more once again.

Capacity Limit For Some CCAs And Activities To Be Reduced

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced some new tightened restrictions for physical sports and dance-related CCAs in light of the new clusters.

Six different schools have also reported confirmed cases in their student and staff over the weekend, so there was a need for caution.

Starting from 19 July, Monday, group sizes for these CCA activities in school will be reduced to 30, when it was previously 50.

Additionally, activities are to be carried out in groups of up to two people instead of five people now.

As for physical education classes, they should also be conducted within classes only, with individual activities or group activities of up to two people in each.

This means goodbye to inter-class games, unfortunately.

Schools were updated on these new measures in a circular on Saturday MOE said.

CCAs were finally allowed to be resumed in-person in schools starting 12 July to mark the beginning of Term 3 in secondary schools, junior colleges and the Millenia Institute.

However, as for primary schools, MOE plans to resume them in Week 5 of the term beginning from 26 July.

This is still subject to their “review if any adjustment is needed based on the prevailing situation.”

Actions To Be Taken For Staff And Students At Risk

You might have received an SMS from the Ministry of Health (MOH) over the weekend for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

As long as you have been at the same hotspot as a confirmed COVID-19 case at the same time, you’ll be receiving either a Health Risk Warning (HRW) or Health Risk Alert (HRA) via SMS.

This is part of MOH’s new efforts to contain any possible COVID-19 clusters before they spread even more, which began last Friday on 16 July.

If the message you got was a HRW, you’ll be mandated to go for testing at a designated testing centre, and you’ll also have to self-isolate until PCR test results show you’re negative.

Meanwhile, if you happened to be at one of the places where nightlife establishments that were operating as food and beverage outlets were at or similar ones, you’ll receive a HRA.

That’s even if you were simply buying mangoes or indulging in satay.

Under the HRA, identified people will have to monitor their health and limit interactions with other people for the next 14 days.

You will also be urged to get self-testing kits at pharmacies and undergo regular testing to make sure that you’re in the clear.

Since staff and students may be possible recipients of such alerts, MOE said that if any of them or any of their household members receive them, relevant actions will be taken.

They also added that they are closely monitoring the situation and see if it calls for any changes to safe distancing measures in school, in line with the national situation.

Featured Image: Facebook (Ministry of Education, Singapore)