New Delhi: Pune schools will remain closed for another week and will reopen on Monday, August 24. Meanhwile, the Health Ministry has come out with fresh guidelines to contain the spread of swine flu, under which schools are being advised to dispense with morning assembly.
It will also be made mandatory for every teacher to go from seat to seat to check each child for symptoms of flu and if it is detected, they will send the child home for a week.
The Health Ministry, which came out with the three-page guideline, also asked the school authorities not to insist on production of medical certificate from absentee students, including teachers and other staff, who had developed flu-like symptoms.
"Schools are advised to avoid any large gathering of students during the course of the day in the school. This would reduce the possibility of the spread of the infection, if any, to a much larger number of students who would be in close contact with each other in such a gathering," it said.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told a group of senior journalists that morning assemblies, where students come in close contact, could become a source for spread of the virus and it should be dispensed with.
"It is also being made mandatory for each teacher to go from seat to seat in the class to check for symptoms of flu, identify the student and immediately sent him or her back with the advice that they should stay at home for a week," Azad said.
The guidelines left it to the schools to use their own judgement for any type of temporary closure in the event of wide spread of swine flu in the institution.
"Closure of schools has not been recommended by the Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA," the guideline said adding it is easier in schools to detect if any student has flu symptoms.
"...Children will play and mix with public in various places and at social gathering and there will be nobody to advise them or prevent such incidents....in schools, there will be a teacher who will be able to detect their symptoms everyday at the earliest," it said.
According to the guidelines, if a student is detected with flu symptoms, he or she should be referred immediately to the medical facility of the school and advise them to stay at home for seven days and observe strict discipline of home isolation.
"The onus of observance of discipline of isolation henceforth is shifted to the parents and school authorities should accordingly write a letter to the parents," it said.
If students, teachers and other employees develop flu-like symptoms, they should be advised to stay at home and consult a doctor.
"School authorities should not insist on production of medical certificate from such preventive absentees," it said.
For hostellers, the school authority should monitor the health status of students as well as the other ancillary staff there on a regular basis. It also said the hostels should not be closed or students be sent back in case there is a suspected case.
"School should (also) discourage excursion of the students to the affected countries," the guideline said.
However, it said, if students go on tour to affected countries, they should be thoroughly examined on return before permitting attendance in the class.
"If there is one suspect case of H1N1, then the whole group should be kept under isolation at home and their health status should be regularly watched," it said.
The guidelines also said if students, teachers or other employees who are suffering from chronic diseases develop flu-like symptoms, then they should be immediately taken to the medical officer of the school.
"Mostly, such patients will be kept on Oseltamivir and in home isolation," it said.
All schools should observe regular cleaning of their campus with cleaner they ordinarily use so that all the droplets and shredding from any unnoticed mildly infected students or employees are taken care of.
All the schools should display 'Do's and Dont's' for H1N1 infection at prominent places in the campus besides circulating pamphlets on swine flu to students.
Students, teachers and other employees are advised to observe strict cough and sneeze etiquette, i.e. use tissue while sneezing and coughing. "The tissue paper so used should be kept in a separate plastic bag so that it can be disposed of safely," the guidelines added.
Schools across the country saw some cases of swine flu earlier this month when they reopened after summer vacations. Some students who had been abroad were the first to test positive for H1N1. (With PTI inputs)