With the outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus and with circuit breaker measures being extended till June 1, Singapore’s Ministry of Education has made changes to the school academic calendars.
The Ministry has brought forward the 4-week school holidays from June to May 5.
“While HBL (Home-Based Learning) has been going well, it has been an intense period of hard work and adjustment for parents, students and teachers. An early June holiday will give everyone a respite. It also buys us time for a less restrictive school opening in June,” said an MOE statement.
Lessons are now scheduled to resume on June 2 with the format of these lessons to be announced at a later date. This also means that Term 3 will be longer, but MOE has said it will institute a one-week mid-term break from July 20 to 26.
These adjustments will apply to all MOE Kindergartens, primary, secondary and Pre-University students, including students from Special Education (SPED) schools.
Revised academic calendar:
5 May 2020 to 1 June 2020: School holidays
2 June 2020: Start of Term 3
20 July 2020 to 26 July 2020: Mid-term break
6 September 2020: End of Term 3
INSTITUTES OF HIGHER LEARNING (IHLs)
From May 5 till June 1:
- Students from polytechnics will continue with full HBL
- Students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will continue with full HBL until May 8 May 2020. Thereafter, they will be on vacation from May 9 to June 1
- Students from the Singapore Institute of Technology and some students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design will be starting their school term on May 18 in full HBL
- The other Autonomous Universities will be having their holidays. Those offering a summer term will conduct all classes online
MOE also said that limited care services will continue in schools for children of those parents working in essential services like healthcare and who are also unable to secure alternative care arrangements.
RESCHEDULING OF GCE-LEVEL MTL EXAMINATIONS
The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) will reschedule the Mid-Year Mother Tongue Language (MTL) Written Examinations as follows:
| Subject Examined | Original Date | Rescheduled Date |
| O-Level MTL (Papers 1 and 2) | 1 June 2020, 8 am | 18 June 2020, 2 pm |
| A-Level H1 MTL (Papers 1 and 2) | 1 June 2020, 8 am | 18 June 2020, 2 pm |
| O-Level MTL B (Papers 1 and 2) | 2 June 2020, 8 am | 19 June 2020, 2:30 pm |
| A-Level MTL B (Papers 1 and 2) | 2 June 2020, 8 am | 19 June 2020, 2:30 pm |
The listening comprehension for O- and A-level MTL and MTL B will be rescheduled as follows:
| Subject Examined | Original Date | Rescheduled Date |
| O-Level MTL and MTL B Listening Comprehension | 21 July 2020 | 27 July 2020 |
| A-Level MTL and MTL B Listening Comprehension | 22 July 2020 | 27 July 2020 |
MOE has also announced that the Common Last Topics (CLT) will be removed from the national examinations this year. The CLT is a set of topics from a syllabus identified by MOE that would be taught last by all schools towards the end of the academic year.
“Examples of CLT to be removed include ‘Interactions within the Environment’ for PSLE Science, Vectors for O-level Mathematics and ‘Introduction to the Chemistry of Transition Elements’ for A-level H2 Chemistry,” said the MOE statement.
The CLT will still be taught, but not be examinable.
