30.08.2009 - Some medical experts have urged the authori­ties throughout Spain to consider delaying the reo­pening of schools to avoid large numbers of children congregating and giving the H1N1 virus an easy path to infect others.  The death of an 11-year-old boy in Gran Canaria, coming weeks after an outbreak of the flu in a small number of summer camps here, fuelled the calls for a rethink. 

However, the Canarian health minister Mercedes Roldós insisted there was no reason to change the plans. 

Roldós said a factor con­tributing to the propor­tionately higher number of serious cases here could be the constant mingling of people from different parts through the tourist industry.

According to Norberto Hernández, president of the regional federation of parents’ associations, while they are, in principal, in agreement with the deci­sion not to delay the start of the school year, they are concerned at the lack of information coming from the relevant departments, and lack of consultation with parent groups. “We don’t know what will be done with our children, or if teachers have been told how to pro­ceed” he told local press.  He said that while there was general information in the government webpages, there was nothing that had been adapted specifically to deal with schools.

Obviously children or teachers who show symp­toms of the flu must be iso­lated and kept at home, but there is ongoing concern at the levels of hygiene in some schools, especially among the younger chil­dren attending infants and primary schools, where, given the age of the stu­dents, personal attention to hygiene might not be as rigorous as may be deemed necessary.

As we go to press there are no nation-wide plans either in the UK or Ireland to delay the start of the school year as a result of the presence of swine flu, though some teachers in the latter have expressed concerns about the level of hygiene and hand washing facilities in some schools, a factor in curtailing the spread. 

In the UK The Depart­ment for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said that, while it was expect­ed schools and nurseries would open as usual at the start of the academic year, it could not be “certain what the situation will be” in the autumn and that decisions on closures would be taken shortly before the start of the autumn term.

For the moment then it should be back to school as normal.  Term begins on September 8th for chil­dren attending infants and primary school, September 14th for those in secondary school and many training and vocational centres.



This article appears in the print edition 598 of Island Connections

Gallery: Back to school

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