dayak sarawak

 

KUCHING: The outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) has caused much concern among many quarters, but, unfortunately, its seriousness is not felt by some school heads.

Last week, the State Education Department stated that all schools in the state have to conduct HFMD screening at the entrance of their schools yesterday (the new school term reopened yesterday) to prevent the disease from spiralling out of control, but a random check by The Borneo Post on five schools found that only one – St Mary’s Primary School – complied with the directive.

St Mary’s co-curriculum senior assistant Juliana De Rozario, when interviewed, said the school had always taken proactive measures to check on the health of its pupils.

“The screening we conduct today (yesterday) is not really because of the directive to screen for HFMD per se. This is because our teachers have always taken proactive measures when they noticed pupils falling sick.

“Under normal circumstances, pupils who were ill were often asked to go home or seek medical treatment immediately.”

Because of the seriousness of the HFMD, Juliana said the school had also taken the initiative to screen pupils during recess, besides the one done at the school entrance.

“We screen them during recess because sometimes they (pupils) might look alright when they come to school, but the symptoms start popping up later in the day.”

As an additional measure to fight HFMD, she said the teachers also cleaned their respective classes during the last period to ensure that it is clean at all times.

Juliana’s colleague, who declined to be named,” chipped in: “We also encourage our pupils to bring their own hand sanitizer when they come to school”.

At another primary school, its headmaster gave the excuse that it was difficult for teachers to screen pupils at the entrance because some of the pupils come to school very early.

Hence, he added, screening would only be carried out by the teachers after the school assembly.

Another school headmaster, when approached, said since their primary one and two classes were held in the afternoon, they would only be screened before lessons start in the afternoon. However, he did not mention anything about screening primary three to six pupils.

He added that his school had taken the initiative to clean all its classrooms to keep HFMD infection at bay.

Ironically, several parents interviewed during the survey said they were not aware of the Education Department’s screening directive.

“However, I think it is a good measure taken by the authorities concerned,” one of the parents said