Parents who spoke to CNA then expressed shock at the incident. “I never imagined such an incident happening in Singapore schools,” said Mr Cheng, whose child studies at Xinmin Secondary. 

Mr Albert Hooi, another parent, said he heard police sirens after 8am. He was alerted about the incident at about 10am through Parents Gateway, an app used by schools to communicate with parents.

“I was feeling very confident that I think the school has followed the safety protocol. Of course, this is all very new to us, very scared as well, but I think the school has done the right thing,” he said.

The school handled the incident very professionally and made the right call to make sure everything was in order before informing parents, said Mr Hooi, who is the father of a 15-year-old child. 

“Imagine if all the parents were rushing in, then we’d get a lot more problems. I’m just happy that everything went well,” he added.

The bomb hoax came four years after a similar incident at Evergreen Secondary School in Woodlands. Even though the threat was determined to be false, such security threats should still be taken seriously, the Ministry of Home Affairs then said.