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CHILDREN could be called into school on Saturdays – and holidays may be shortened – to make up classroom time lost after the government announced strict new closure directives in the fight against swine flu.
Just days after officials said they would rethink the school shutdown strategy after educational concerns were raised, parents have now been told to keep children home for up to six more weeks.
For many the school holidays had been extended because of Ramadan. Some private schools had already reopened and government schools were due back on the Sunday following Eid.
But in the last week nine private schools were ordered to close for seven days after cases of swine flu were confirmed among pupils.
On Friday, the Health Ministry’s school health services chief, Dr Mariam Harmas Al Hajeri, said doing away with the seven-day closure directive was ‘very much an option’.
But on Saturday a new ‘stay away’ order was issued by health and education officials which requires all secondary schools to close until October 4, intermediate schools until October 11 and primary schools until October 18.
Kindergartens and special needs classes will not open until November 1. There is also a new set of closure guidelines for schools that find that the virus has struck in the classroom (see panel below, right).
Now, as well as organising additional home studies, schools such as St Christopher’s and The Indian School are considering bringing students in on Saturdays to make up lost time and the British School is looking at shortening holidays.
St Christopher’s School principal Ed Goodwin said: “Our view is that we cannot see the logic of the announcement and we have been given no explanation or rationale for it.
“The closure will inevitably have an impact on children’s education.”
In a letter released on the school website on Sunday, he added: “I have completed meetings with the senior staff and they are now spending time planning how to minimise the impact of this Ministry order upon our students, your children.
“Everyone was extremely unhappy about the closures and everyone is determined to do whatever is realistically possible to move through this confusing and volatile period as smoothly as possible.”
He said that more details would be forthcoming following further meetings but said the school will provide home working packs wherever possible and will look at extending teaching time once classes resume, possibly on Saturdays or with lessons running later.
In a special note to parents of Year 10 to 13 students, Mr Goodwin added: “I have to state that, whilst ALL year groups are highly important to us, we WILL give particular emphasis to classes in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13. We are determined that the ultimate exam results for GCSE, IB and A level students will be unaffected by this difficult situation.”
And, he urged parents and students to work with teachers to see this happens.
On the question of fees he said this was raised when the government first started talking about shutting schools and the ministry said if the closures were instructed by the government then parents should not be expecting money back.
“Obviously we’re very concerned about it. It is not my place to comment on the Ministry’s policies if that’s what it feels it has to do as a competent authority. I’m not going to make any announcement until there has been a full meeting of the school management but we are looking at revising our calendar and at how we can work with the students to minimise the disruption.
“We have a great deal of flexibility in calendar planning, for example in the Easter holiday this year we had more than two weeks at what is a critical time for those taking exams in the summer. If we were to decide to foreshorten that holiday, those students would have additional tuition time just before their exams.
“All our students also have access to an email/website system and we’re confident that we can make up the lost tuition time. However, it is very frustrating for both students and staff.”
Raveena Gandhi, principal of The Indian School in Sitra, and acting principal of the
“At that point we will look at the schedules to see how we can make up the lost time and this could include working Saturdays, that would be one way to make sure all the necessary lessons are completed.”
One pre-school teacher, who asked not to be named, said: “We will have been off for more than four months by the time we go back. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.
“My husband said he wanted to take our daughter to the water park but I said no – to me it makes no sense to have the schools closed but have even more children together in places like this.
“Though I can understand that the government is trying to stop the spread of swine flu, I wish we could get some firm guidance as to what’s happening, one day we’re back at the end of September, then it’s early October, now it’s November. Will they extend it again if new cases keep showing up? At this rate the children will be off for the whole year and, in the meantime, children will play together, so I don’t think it’s really going to help very much.
“I’m also concerned at how long the small schools are going to be able to keep paying staff. I know the government has apparently said parents should not get money back but that’s not what we’re hearing at school.
“We’ve also been told we can’t travel during the closure as we have to have been in the country and flu-free for seven days before the school reopens and no-one knows exactly when that will be with changes to the orders happening almost daily.”
One angry parent has launched a ‘let’s get the children in
Visit www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-get-the-children-in-Bahrain-back-to-school-NOW-/139636627940 for details.
virus hasn't mutated, WHO chief says
The swine flu virus hasn't mutated into a more deadly strain but there are early signs it is developing resistance to vaccine, the World Heath Organisation’s chief said.
Authorities have been monitoring closely whether the virus was morphing into more virulent forms that would make it deadlier, the organisation’s Director-General Margaret Chan said.
“We are not seeing that situation right now,” Chan told reporters as the WHO convened a conference in
The WHO says the swine flu virus – also known as H1N1 – has killed almost 3,486 people worldwide.
South America and
For now, the infection is generally mild and most people recover without treatment.
But should it become deadlier, developing nations could be especially vulnerable because those populations lack adequate health care and are already fighting a myriad of diseases including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Chan said manufacturers were on track to develop billions of new doses of the vaccine over the next year. The vaccine is highly effective against the swine flu virus, though there are a small number of instances – about 25 in the world – of a vaccine-resistant flu.
NEW SCHOOL GUIDELINES
Health Ministry officials announced a new set of swine flu rules concerning schools.
l If three cases are found in one class, the children from that class will be sent home for seven days.
l If three cases are reported in more than one class, then the whole school will close.
l If less than three swine flu cases are found in multiple classes, neither the affected classes nor the school involved will be ordered to shut.
l The government earlier stated that if 10 per cent of students, or five per cent in kindergartens, had common flu symptoms along with fever, then the school would be closed. However, these figures have now been changed to a uniform two per cent.
l There will be no change in the timetable of universities, which will re-open under existing swine flu guidelines.
