By Jessica Jaganathan & Leow Si Wan

ONE or two pupils felled by the H1N1 flu and their class may be sent home for a week. More, and the whole school may be ordered shut.

This scenario might well be played out at various schools across the island over the next few months as part of the Education Ministry's approach to containing the spread of the H1N1 virus, which has infected 194 people here so far.

But Education Minister Ng Eng Hen has ruled out a full-scale shutdown of schools or delaying the start of the new school term which begins on Monday.

Instead, he called on parents and students to brace themselves for classes, entire levels or schools to be shut as community infections spread.

'There may be situations where schools close, open, close... and I want to prepare the public and parents to prepare for this long and disruptive pattern,' he told a news conference yesterday.

Part of its focused approach: Students returning from affected areas since June 22 must stay home for seven days. The affected areas include Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Britain and the United States.

This means that a student returning from overseas today will be allowed back in school only on Thursday next week.

The question of school closures has engaged parents and students over the past week, even as teachers ready themselves to do home-based teaching via the Internet and through the post.

Primary and secondary schools were closed for more than a week during the Sars outbreak in 2003, but Dr Ng stressed yesterday that H1N1 is different from Sars.

Sars was virulent and short-lived, whereas the H1N1 virus will be around for much longer and infect more people worldwide.

He said: 'It doesn't make sense to close systems, whether it's schools, businesses or camps, because how long will you keep it closed?

'Even if you are closed, the number of cases, not only in Singapore but around Singapore, will keep on rising. So we have to take a different approach.'

But Singapore's brush with Sars has prepared schools for similar crises, as e-learning systems were put in place to let students have lessons online at home.

Before the school holidays began on May 30, students and staff were told to submit travel declaration forms.

Now, schools will contact them to verify where they went and make arrangements to attend lessons from home if necessary. Dr Ng estimates that about 2 per cent of all students and teachers would have been to overseas flu-stricken areas for their vacation.

Principals of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools as well as junior colleges have been briefed on the measures to take, including suspending school assemblies and staggering recess in the first week of term. As it was during Sars, twice-daily temperature-taking will be the norm.

Schools will send sick students home or to the doctor.

O-level oral and written examinations will proceed as planned, with re-scheduled dates or isolation rooms for infected students.

Like Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, Dr Ng is counting on parents and students to exercise social responsibility, declare their travel history truthfully and stay home to avoid infecting others.

But his optimism is not shared by all. Ms Punam Dogra, mother of three young children, would rather that the school term was set back by a week just to be safe.

She was not convinced that everyone would tell the truth about where they travelled to.

Other parents were pleased that schools would reopen schools as scheduled, saying they were unconvinced of the merits of home-based learning.

National Junior College vice-principal Low Chun Meng said: 'Ultimately, it is the social responsibility of parents and students to be honest about their travel activities.'

Measures that will kick in

EDUCATION Minister Ng Eng Hen yesterday outlined how schools will deal with Influenza A (H1N1):

1 MOE will issue Leave of Absence (LOA) to all staff and students who have returned from affected countries, on and after June 22.

2 Even after the first week, things will not return to normal. Schools will step up vigilance measures to detect and isolate those with fever and other flu symptoms.

3 Home-based learning and make-up lessons will be conducted for affected students.

4 Everyone needs to play a part to slow down the spread of H1N1. The main weapon is social distancing. If you are unwell, stay away from other people.

5 Students will be taught proper handwashing techniques, and sneeze and cough etiquette.

6 If each of us exercises social responsibility, life can go on as normal.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.