SINGAPORE: Passengers at Changi Airport heading to Bali were left stranded on Monday (Nov 27) after flights to the Indonesian island were cancelled and its Denpasar airport was closed.

The move came after Indonesian authorities raised the alert for Bali’s Mount Agung volcano to the highest level.

Passengers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said there was a snaking queue at Scoot’s Terminal 2 check-in counter early in the morning. The budget airline had three flights departing Singapore for Bali on Monday.

When Channel NewsAsia visited at 11.30am, there was still a slight queue at the Scoot counter. Boards at the counter flashed information about the cancelled flights, and two service ambassadors from Changi Airport were on hand with a cart of refreshments for affected passengers.

Some passengers had already boarded their flights, but had to disembark. One of them, who wished only to be known as Dickson, had already boarded the flight scheduled to depart at 7.15am when passengers were informed of the cancellation.

“The captain told us it was delayed at first. Then subsequently they said they were waiting for information,” he said. “That was around 8 plus in the morning.”

At 8.30am, they were informed of the cancellation.

“We will have to write to the management to get our refund, and at least we have insurance so we can get our money back.”

The group of four friends had planned a vacation to Bali that cost about S$1,500 per person. But left at the airport, they decided to change their plans, and book another flight to Taiwan departing first thing on Tuesday.

“Scoot initially told us that we could fly somewhere else without a charge, but when got to the front of the queue, we found that they limited the countries we could fly to regional ones,” he said. 

The trip will cost them about S$2,000 per person, but they said they were taking the cancellations in their stride.

Other passengers were taking the same attitude.

Crystal Loh was part of a group of friends and family booked on the 7.15am Scoot flight, and was in the transit area when she was informed of the cancellation.

“We only found out about the cancellation at 9.30am, and then we had to come back out and queue again.”

“They said we could either have a full refund or choose another flight to another destination,” she added. “So we decided to go to Phuket instead.”

“We’re not very disappointed. It’s not really under our control. And honestly we’ve found a better destination … the beaches at Bali can be overpopulated.”

“Definitely there’s a hassle, but we will think positively and just handle it. It’s a holiday, so we don’t want to let this destroy everything,” said Angeline Tan, another member of the group. “It was very good that Scoot allowed us to re-book our ticket to a different destination at no charge.” 

SINGAPORE: Children attending Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens located within primary school compounds will get higher priority in entering these schools, MOE announced on Monday (Nov 27).

Under the pilot programme, these children will be eligible under Phase 2A2 starting from the 2018 Primary 1 registration exercise, for admission in 2019.

Previously, Phase 2A2 was reserved for children whose parents or siblings have studied in the school, and whose parents are staff members of the school.

The 12 primary schools where the kindergartens are located are Northoaks, Riverside, Punggol Green, Punggol View, Sengkang Green, Springdale, Farrer Park, Blangah Rise, Dazhong, Frontier, Westwood and West Spring. Co-located kindergartens are under the purview of the schools.

BENEFITS IN TRANSITIONING

Currently, about half of the children who attend these MOE kindergartens move on to co-located primary schools, the ministry said during a media briefing held at its headquarters in Buona Vista on Monday.

MOE said that it has received feedback from teachers and parents on the benefits of moving on to a co-located primary school. Remaining in a familiar physical, social and educational environment helps to smoothen their move to Primary 1, a spokesman said.

Speaking to the media after the briefing, Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng said: “In this environment we hope to enable a smoother learning journey, a more familiar environment where they have older primary school kids who look after them.”

MOE, which has been operating kindergartens for about four years, currently has 15 kindergartens. The remaining three are in community sites and will eventually be relocated to primary schools.

At the National Day Rally this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that MOE will increase the number of its kindergartens to 50 by 2023. MOE said all new kindergartens will be co-located in primary schools.

Among factors that give children priority in admission to MOE kindergartens are being Singaporean siblings of K1 children studying in the kindergarten in the year of registration, living nearby and coming from a particular income bracket.

Currently, the kindergartens take in 60 to 120 children in the K1 level.

SINGAPORE: Four shuttle bus services will ply the routes along the MRT stations on the East-West Line (EWL) and North-South Line (NSL) that will have their operating hours shortened in December, SMRT said in a media release on Monday (Nov 27).

The buses, which will follow the same fare structure as trains, will ply the following four routes and will arrive at frequencies of between three to five minutes during peak hours, and five to 10 minutes during non-peak hours:

• Loop 1: Outram Park to Jurong East (both directions)
• Loop 2: Jurong East to Joo Koon (both directions)
• Loop 3: Joo Koon to Tuas Link (both directions)
• Loop 4: Jurong East to Choa Chu Kang (both directions)

The train operator earlier announced that 17 EWL stations stations and two NSL stations will be fully closed on Dec 10 and Dec 17.

In addition, from Dec 8 to Dec 31, the 17 EWL stations from Tiong Bahru to Tuas Link as well as Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak stations on the NSL will close earlier on Fridays and Saturdays (at 11pm) and open later on Saturdays and Sundays (at 8am). 

SMRT said its staff will be deployed at bus stops to assist and guide commuters from Dec 8 until Dec 31.

The two full-day closures and shortened operating hours were announced after a collision involving two trains at Joo Koon MRT station on Nov 15. The collision, which injured 38 people, was caused by a software glitch in the EWL signalling system.  

SMRT said the shortened operating hours will more than double engineering and track access time from three hours to seven-and-a-half hours each night.

“With extended engineering hours from December 2017, the re-signalling works on the EWL will be completed significantly earlier by June 2018, instead of end-2018,” it added.  

SMRT Trains CEO Lee Ling Wee said the previous rounds of early closure or late opening of MRT services have seen the engineering teams “gain valuable time to work on tracks and trackside infrastructure”. He added that parts of the train network that were renewed “have served commuters well”. 

“Our engineering teams will make full use of the additional time to perform train and signalling tests, and planned maintenance and renewal works on tracks, in MRT stations and in train depots,” Mr Lee said. 

More information on the closure and the shuttle buses available can be found on SMRT’s website, social media pages as well as in stations and trains.