MOE Allows Students to Attend School Without Uniform When School Reopens After Crowds Spotted at Uniform Vendor

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things, including making students turn up for the first few weeks of school without wearing their school uniforms.

This announcement came after police officers had to turn up at a uniform shop in Ang Mo Kio to disperse a huge crowd.

What Happened

At about 8am on Tuesday, 29 Dec, parents and children turned up at the Jeep Sing Fashion store to get a queue number.

The store only opens at 10am.

By then, about 100 people have formed a snaking queue outside the store located at Blk 4012 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 with several of them ignoring the 1-metre safe distance.

Six police officers turned up and urge people to stand further away from each other or leave the queue.

By around 11.30am, about 70 people who had queue tickets were left waiting in the queue.

A man, Mr Shio Kumar, said that he had to wait for two hours before he finally got his 3-year-old daughter her kindergarten uniform.

It wasn’t his first visit either as on Monday, he had waited three hours before he was turned away from the shop.

He added that usually, they collect the uniform directly from the school. However, this time, he was told to get the uniform directly from the shop, and that it was a “horrible experience”.

Another parent, Sharon Yee, couldn’t get a queue number despite being at the shop at 8.55am, about an hour before its opening time.

Not The Only Uniform Shop Visited By Police

Jeep Sing Fashion store wasn’t the only school uniform outlet visited by police officers.

Bibi & Baba, located in Far East Shopping Centre, were also visited twice by police officers last week.

The shop was told to limit the number of people queueing outside to 20 people, and send the rest into the shopping mall.

It was further revealed that about half of the secondary schools served by Bibi & Baba do not allow school uniforms to be sold in their premises due to Covid-19.

Will Work With Students & Vendors To Ensure They Get Uniforms As Soon As Possible

When schools reopen from 4 Jan 2021, the Ministry of Education (MOE) says, they will work together with vendors to make sure that students are able to buy school uniforms as early as possible.

It was added that schools will also facilitate the sales of uniforms within their premises.

Due to Covid-19, the ministry explained, schools were advised to change up their year-end activities, including asking vendors to work with parents to purchase their children’s uniforms and school books online.

Vendors were also advised to get parents or guardians to make appointments when coming down to buy school uniforms at the school or physical shop.

For those who are unable to get a uniform in time, the students can turn up in physical education (PE) attire, or their primary school uniforms for the first few weeks of school, MOE said.

Feature Image: YouTube / Google Map