[Photo: Thermal screening at Republic Polytechnic.]

By Audrey Tan Ruiping and Shea John Driscoll, newsroom interns

THERMOMETERS have been raising temperatures among some parents and students.

Some schools are charging $1 to $2 for checks if their students forget to bring a thermometer while others conduct it for free.

Even the cost of buying one can vary between schools.

The cheapest that The New Paper found was priced $4.20. And the most expensive was $6.

According to a Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesman, daily temperature-taking in schools started yesterday, as a precautionary measure against Influenza A(H1N1).

Temperature-screening would also be conducted at all other MOE buildings.

'MOE is in close consultation with MOH (Ministry of Health) and will activate other appropriate measures should there be a need to,' the spokesman said.

'Let them off'

At National Junior College (NJC), if you forget to bring your thermometer for the daily temperature-taking, it will cost you $2 to get it done by the school.

According to an NJC spokesman, the thermometer used by the school costs between $60 and $100, although she was unable to give the exact price.

But it is not the only one to charge a fee for those without a thermometer. The charge is to ensure that students do not forget to bring their thermometers daily.

At Raffles Institution, students are expected to pay $2 if they forget to bring their thermometers, although their form teachers might 'let them off a bit' and charge them 50cents instead.

According to some students, Catholic Junior College charges its students $1 for the process.

However, at Casuarina Primary School, students did not have to pay a cent.

Pioneer JC also said it conducts the checks for free.

Some parents and students have questioned the charge. One student, Charles Tan, 14, from Anglican High School, said: 'All thermometers have the same use, so why should the students be charged differently?'

The price of thermometers also varies among schools.

According to some students contacted by The New Paper, Anglican High School, Victoria Junior College (VJC) and Meridian Junior College all sell thermometers to the students at $4.20 each.

Saint Andrews Junior College charges its students $5.50 for Smitech thermometers.

Other schools, such as Kranji Secondary School, sell thermometers for as low as $2.

Some schools, such as Pioneer JC, said they sell thermometers to the students at the price they got it for.

A spokesman for the school said it has run out of thermometers and is sourcing for thermometers from the supplier.

'When new stock for the thermometers come in, we will sell it to the students at the price we got it for from the suppliers,' she added.

According to some students The New Paper contacted, the college used to sell the old stock at $4 each.

Year 1 Yishun Junior College student Darren Lim, 18 said: 'It isn't fair for the colleges to charge differently. My school charges us $5 for a one-use thermometer.'

The New Paper understands that the college issues students one-time use clinical thermometers of the Tempa.DOT brand.

Some students had no problems with the price difference.

Year 1 VJC student Kimberly Tham, 17, said the price difference could be because different schools sell different models. 'Unless there's a government rule saying all schools should sell the same models, I think it's fine,' Kimberly said.

Several parents felt that if the situation is that serious, then perhaps the authorities should provide some assistance.

Madam Low Bee Hua, 44, who has two children in school, said: 'It would be best if the government provided thermometers for free because of the poor economic situation.

'But if the thermometers are free, they must also be of good quality.'

Another parent, Mrs Amy Tan, 51, who has two sons in school, agreed.

She said: 'If one school can do it, why can't all schools?'

Making profits?

The difference in price has raised another concern among some parents - are some schools making money from the sale of thermometers or taking temperatures?

Ms Janice Heng, 52, a bank officer who has two children in Ngee Ann Secondary, said that students should be allowed to buy new thermometers for a 'nominal charge, the same for all schools'.

An NJC spokesman dismissed the claim that it was making money.

She said the money collected from the temperature taking exercise would be put into the school's 'Hard Times Ahead' fund to help the school's financially disadvantaged students.

The measure had been put in place as a deterrent, so that students would not forget to bring their thermometers.

But, the spokesman said: 'Our school is in the process of revising this measure as we can't expect our students to pay this amount daily.'

Other schools, such as Republic Polytechnic, fine students who don't bring their thermometers to school.

Mr Khng Eu Meng, Director of Corporate Communications at the polytechinc said it would impose a $5 fine after the stocks for thermometers have come in, since the current supply of thermometers in the school have run low.

Mr Khng also said that the money collected from the students would go into an operations fund, which would be used for future student activities.

The school also started a thermal scanning exercise for the students today.

This article was first published in The New Paper.