Teachers in Singapore lose access to government applications on work laptops

TODAY has reported that teachers in Singapore will no longer have access to certain government-wide applications on their work laptops from 12 May 2017. In fact, they will now have to use separate terminals to tap into the government intranet, human resources portal and GeBiz (the government’s one-stop e-procurement portal), amongst other applications.

Previously, teachers had access to nine applications through Schools Standard ICT Operating Environment (SSOE) devices - mainly their laptops. However, some of these functions including a self-help feature to a portal for changing bank account details will be deactivated on their devices.

To ease off the inconvenience, each school will be given a few laptops with continued access to these applications. Teachers will then have to approach their administrative colleagues for a token to use the laptops. Additionally, they will need to fill in a logbook each time they access the laptops for record-keeping purposes.

ALSO READ: Will teachers lose jobs due to school mergers in Singapore?

Teachers have mentioned in the report that the move was a security measure to protect school networks from cyber attacks.

According to an internal memo circulated within a school, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is currently enhancing its human resources portal, and will restore access on SSOE devices by March next year.

The MOE had assured teachers that they would continue to have access to “teaching and learning resources on the Internet” on their work computers; as they used a separate network that would not be connected to the Government Enterprise Network.

Photo/ 123RF