Tuesday, Aug 25, 2009
Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: Since July a Filipino School here has been advising pupils returning from vacation abroad to observe a "mandatory 10-day self-quarantine" before rejoining as a preventive measure against H1N1 flu.
The school said it had taken this decision in July, at least a month before the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) announced a similar plan, as reported by Gulf News yesterday.
The Philippine National School in Abu Dhabi, which has about 1,000 pupils, had informed the parents in July that pupils coming from abroad should stay at home for at least 10 days before joining the classes, Dr Ofelia Padilla, the school principal, told Gulf News yesterday.
The school has screened all the pupils [to detect the suspected swine flu cases] when it reopened on Sunday, she said. Only one pupil was found with a temperature but it was normal flu, Padilla said.
The principal said the school recorded absenteeism of 10 per cent of pupils, who may have just come back or may be still abroad.
Asked whether the school would check the pupils' passports to ensure they have stayed home for 10 days, she said the school would not go to that extent, but parents' cooperation and the screening at the school would ensure the preventive measure.
Another Filipino school, which reopened yesterday, said they would wait for guidelines from the authorities to implement any preventive measure against swine flu. "If we get an official communication to implement a mandatory weeklong stay for pupils coming from abroad, we can implement it," said Dr Daniel Sistona, the principal of Pioneers International Private School with about 500 pupils.
Other private schools said the cooperation of parents is crucial in implementing such a decision.
"We need the cooperation of the parents to ensure that children coming back from abroad stay at home for a week," said Neelam Upadhyay, the principal of Indian School Al Ain.
-With inputs from Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporter
By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff reporter
Gulf News 2009. All rights reserved.
