Parents complain after half of class gets chickenpox within a month at primary school in Ang Mo Kio

A chicken pox outbreak in a primary school at Ang Mo Kio has left some parents worried.

A parents complained that within the span of a month, half the students in his child’s class were infected, reports Shin Min Daily News via Lianhe Zaobao. 

Said the 46-year-old man:

“My son is a student at Teck Ghee Primary School, and he caught chicken pox last week.

“Out of the 32 students in his class, half were infected this month.”

He also told reporters that his wife had received a call from the school a few days ago, saying that their son had contracted chicken pox. 

She hurried down to the school, only to find that many of his classmates had been infected as well.

Said the concerned parent:

“It’s not a serious issue when kids contract chicken pox, but half the class within a month caught it around the same time.

"This shows that the virus is spreading quite rampantly. 

“I heard that many students from other grades also contracted chicken pox during this time.”

The father is worried that the quarantine and sterilisation measures were not up to standard, which he theorised, could have led to the ‘outbreak’:

“When my wife reflected on this to the school, they told her that the school had already implemented sterilisation and various other measures, but could not explain why so many students were infected. “

Another parent who declined to be named told reporters that her child who was in Primary 2 contracted chicken pox in February too, but did not realise the severity of the situation:

“Chicken pox might be a small deal, but what if it were hand-foot-and-mouth disease?

“The consequences could have been dire.

“I hope the school can reinforce their current quarantine and sterilisation measures.

“This would make me less worried.”

A spokesperson from Teck Ghee Primary School confirmed that the school had seen a rising number of chicken pox cases amongst its students, from Primary 2 to Primary 6. 

To prevent the disease from spreading, the Primary school has been monitoring the temperature of students every day since the end of January.

Assembly sessions were cancelled, and school compounds would be thoroughly cleaned and sterilised every day,

Parents would also get notified if their child displayed symptoms of chicken pox.

“The school reminds parents periodically to take their children to the doctor if they’re feeling unwell, and only attend school after they’ve recovered.”