“We are regaining our strength. We are healing as a TKP (Tanjong Katong Primary) community,” said Principal Caroline Wu during a media briefing on Monday (Jun 29).
The school reopened following the June holidays, during which seven students and two teachers lost their lives after an earthquake hit Mount Kinabalu. A total of 29 students and eight teachers were on an overseas learning journey in Sabah when the 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Jun 5. They were scaling Mount Kinabalu at the time as part of the school’s leadership course called Omega Challenge.
To support the student population, Mrs Wu said they would be taught “coping strategies, as well as values and resilience” during the form teacher guidance period. She added that affected students will be supported, and has been, since they returned from Sabah.
The school also has four counsellors now, after two new ones were brought in as part of the Education Ministry’s efforts to support the school.
“I’m really very confident that with the support from our parents, and resilience from our staff as well as our students, we will be able to bounce back and recover. We will emerge from this stronger,” Mrs Wu said.
The principal had addressed about 700 students from the Primary Three, Four and Five levels during the morning assembly on Monday, and will address Primary One and Two students later this afternoon. She had addressed the Primary Six cohort last week.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
