H1N1: Classes Above Primary 3 Won't Be Closed

Schools will not be closed even if there are more than 10 students infected with H1N1 virus in one school, said the Ministry of Education's Acting Director of Schools Department Hj Ibrahim Hj Abdul Rahman.

"We distributed guidelines today and it said that there will be no closure for pupils studying in the upper primary and above.

"This means that whatever happens, we will have to ask the parents to work together to monitor their temperatures," he told The Brunei Times.

However, Director of Health Services Dr Hjh Maslina Hj Mohsin said: "It depends on how many there are infected in the class."

"We have laid out the discussion regarding the closure of classes. We try as much as possible to avoid closure of schools unless there is major widespread of transmission in the school," she said.

Hj Ibrahim said that teachers should not be worried with the current shortage of thermometers as more will be distributed to schools in the coming week.

"We have requested 2,300 thermometers from our ministry. It's currently out of stock at the moment, but hopefully this coming Monday another 500 more will be distributed," he said.

Stating that the allocation of the infra-red thermometers was a ratio of one to 100, he said that it is part of their contingency plan to add more thermometers.

He added that precautionary measures have been taken, including teachers briefing students on the importance of hygiene.

Letters have been given to advise parents not to send their children to school if they show symptoms of HIN1, he said.

The acting director said that all schools are required to prepare hand sanitisers and keep the school environment clean.

He also lauded teachers, saying that "everything was done in order and by tomorrow there should be a clearer and fine situation".

Dr Hjh Maslina agreed that the teachers have been doing a good job and done what the authorities had asked them to do.

"It's not an easy task to screen hundreds of students in a short space of time," she said.

However, efforts such as temperature screening was not fuliproof as there were other things to check because the person infected might have taken paracetamol, making it difficult to detect whether they have a higher than normal temperature.