Ravindra Nath
28 September 2009 MUSCAT — With the postponement of the start of the new academic year in more than a thousand government schools in Oman, following the swine flu outbreak, the Health and Education Ministry has clarified that the decision is not related to the arrival of the swine flu vaccine. The schools account for as many as 600,000 students.
Addressing a new conference here on Saturday, the ministry officials rejected claims, circulated via SMS, that the newly-developed vaccine had serious side-effects. The Sultanate expects to start receiving the vaccine from the end of next month. The virus has claimed 18 lives and infected more than 1,750 others so far.
The officials added that they have put in place various measures to check the spread of the infection. Among them, students suffering from chronic diseases, who are more prone to catching the swine flu virus, would only be allowed to attend classes from November 17.
Health Affairs Undersecretary Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saidi said the delay in the start of the new academic year and the decision to reopen schools in a phased manner was not connected to the arrival of the H1N1 vaccine into the country. He stressed that it was “a studied precautionary measure” to protect children from the infection.
The Education Ministry put off the reopening of schools twice — from
August 29, the date was first postponed to September 26 and then to October 3-November 7 in stages. Classes for Grades XI and XII will resume on
October 3, Grades VIII, IX and X
from October 17, Grades V, VI and VII from October 31 and Grades I to IV from November 7.
The authorities have also drawn up procedures in case the infection is detected among pupils. If it is discovered in a class, the class will be closed for a week, and if found in more than one class, the entire school will shut for one week. “The infected students will be allowed to return to school only after they complete treatment for one whole week and after ensuring that he or she is free of the disease,” Saidi said.
Responding to a question on messages being circulated about the alleged hazards of the vaccine, he said: “These messages are false and the side-effects are very limited.” He noted that no deaths had been reported due to the vaccine from any of the European countries and China where the vaccine had been tested.
“Only some minor side-effects, usually associated with vaccines, have been recorded,” the Undersecretary added. Oman has signed agreements with a number of multinational pharmaceutical firms for the supply of the vaccine. The first consignment is due to reach here in the middle of October.”
Dr. Muna Bint Salem Al Jardaniyah, Education and Curricula Undersecretary at the Education Ministry, said
the phased opening of schools was aimed at ensuring safety of the students and it would be implemented “wisely and carefully”.
She said that other measures taken by the ministry as part of a preventive strategy include avoiding large gathering of pupils on the first day of school and staggered recesses. She added that revised curricula were being finalised for different classes because of the school year having been shortened.
“The ministry will cancel all activities and events that require large gathering of students. School activities will be designed in a way to ensure raising awareness among students about the disease and focus on academic rather than extra-curricular activities,” Muna said, and called upon ‘financially-able’ parents to arrange transportation for their wards to and from school, thus reducing crowding in school buses.
She urged authorities in each school to prepare lists of children suffering from chronic diseases and advise them not to return to their classes before November 17, the last date set for the phased reopening of schools. Most of the 18 people who died due to H1N1 in the country were patients of chronic ailments such as diabetes, kidney failure and cancer and heart disorders.
Muna said students would be asked to directly go to their classes upon
their arrival at school, instead of gathering for the morning assembly. She added that heads of schools had been instructed to work in close co-ordination with health authorities in their respective regions.
ravindranath@lkhaleejtimes.com
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