H1N1: Three schools reopen

KNOWLEDGE …. A student from Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan (SRK) Assunta reading a notice on “7 steps to proper hand washing” posted on her class door.

PETALING JAYA: Three schools—Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan (SRK) Assunta 2 and 1 here and the Sri Cempaka International School in Cheras—which were closed last week due to the Influenza A (H1N1) infections were reopened yesterday.

At SRK Assunta 2, more than 80 per cent of the pupils turned up to resume classes after the week-long closure.

Selangor Education Director Dr Zahri Aziz, who was there to monitor the situation, was pleased with the attendance and also the measures taken by the school authorities and parent-teacher association which held a gotong royong to clean up the school compound last Saturday.

Zahri told reporters that those entering the school had to wash their hands as a precaution.

The school authorities in collaboration with the Selangor Health Department also held an exhibition to explain to the teachers and pupils the need to take precautionary measures like checking the temperature.

Zahri said the pupils were encouraged to wear masks.

Last Monday the health Department directed SRK Assunta 2 to close after two of its pupils—one in Std One and the other in Std Five—were confirmed positive for H1N1, also known as swine flu.

SRK Assunta 1, which shares the buildings and facilities with SRK Assunta 2, closed its doors on Tuesday, the same day as the Sri Cempaka International School which was ordered to close after a pupil tested positive for the flu.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong told reporters at the Parliament lobby that a private school in Seremban, Chung Hwa High School, took the initiative to close after one of its students contracted the disease from her brother who had just returned home from Melbourne, Australia, for the holiday.

“The private school’s intitiative for self-quarantine is most welcomed by the ministry,” he said.

Another private school, Tsun Jin Height Secondary School in Jalan Loke Yew in Kuala Lumpur had also quarantined one class comprising 45 students after a local transmission involving a 16-year-old male student, he added.

Wee said that although the situation in the affected schools was improving, the ministry was ensuring that the health procedures were observed by every school by sending its officers to the ground.