While private schools seem relatively well-prepared when it comes to precautionary measures to prevent the spread of swine flu, the state sector struggles with a lack of resources and crumbling infrastructure, reports Reem Leila The school year finally kicked off on 3 October after the summer holiday, extended to four months amid fears about the spread of swine flu, ground to a close. With 999 confirmed cases of swine flu already reported in Egypt, the ministries of education and health have been at pains to stress that precautionary measures to fight the spread of the virus among students are in place. But with 47.3 per cent of all Egypt's confirmed cases infecting those under 20, according to the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), parents remain concerned. Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabali told Al-Ahram Weekly that health workers will regularly examine students and inspect schools. He also advised school administrators, teachers and parents not to panic if a student "sneezes or coughs" because children are likely to catch seasonal flu. As part of efforts to combat the virus among university students, Adel Zayed, vice-president of Cairo University, says hours have been extended from 8am until 8pm and the Saturday holiday cancelled in order to reduce the number of students attending individual lectures. Yet while parents of pupils at private and international schools located in Giza, Cairo, 6 October and Alexandria governorates seem on the whole happy with the application of precautionary measures, the parents of children attending state schools are far less sanguine. Student presence at the New Manor House Language School (MHS) in the 6 October governorate was high as the school year opened. "Parents know that the first day is all about orientation and that work starts on the second day. It is important for parents to cooperate with us so that we can form a united front in facing the virus," Iman Nazif, principal of MHS, said. During the day of orientation parents learned about "swine flu and the things they should send with their children to school, wet-wipes, soap, tissues and hand gel", said Nazif. "You can smell the disinfectants everywhere and the cleaning staff are constantly going around making sure everything is hygienic," confirmed Mervat Mohamed, parent of a 12-year-old student at the school. A representative from the Ministry of Health and a doctor are permanently at the school to ensure hygiene is up to the required standard, with the ministry representative regularly checking classrooms to make sure they are well ventilated. The school also has a dedicated holding room where anyone exhibiting flu-like symptoms can be quarantined until examined by a health official. "We are right on schedule," says Adel Hakim, deputy to principal of MHS. "One student showed up with flu-like symptoms but we sent her home right away. We don't want to take any risks." Posters from the Health Ministry explaining preventative measures hang on the walls of Heritage International School (HIS) and have been distributed to students. According to Salma Bahaa, a teacher at HIS, student hands are sprayed with detergents before stepping into the school and before riding the buses in the morning and in the afternoon. "As well as the bathrooms, each classroom is now cleaned in between lessons with disinfectants," she said. While advisories from the Ministries of Health and Education urge students to wash their hands regularly Education Ministry officials inspecting schools around the country have yet to explain what schools with no access to running water can do. "Even though they count for less than 10 per cent of the total this is something that must be dealt with right away," says Adel Abdel-Ghaffar, deputy minister of education. Parents dropping off their children at Al-Shorouq Preparatory School for boys in Al-Warraq, a government run school in Giza governorate, were furious to find the school premises surrounded by festering heaps of garbage. "They repeatedly tell children to wash their hands. But what difference will that make with all this garbage around them?" asks Iman Ibrahim, whose son is in grade seven. When the Weekly visited Al-Shohadaa primary school in Menoufiya governorate, a state school that caters for up to 3000 students, every corner seemed filled with dust. Thoraiya Moussa, a teacher at the school, said "the Education Ministry promised to provide us with cleaning tools, disinfectants and detergents by the beginning of the school year, yet nothing arrived." Last week the Ministry of Education announced that the Ministry of Investment had provided 16 million surgical masks to be distributed in government schools. "We did not receive any masks or any of the items which the ministry stated it would distribute to schools. What other options do we have? I have been spending a lot of my own money and I have asked other parents to contribute," says Amr Rizq, a teacher and parent at Al-Shohadaa Secondary Technical School in Menoufiya. Rizq has also had to ask the teachers to contribute towards buying a bed and a mattress for the "isolation room" demanded by both the ministries of health and education. A tour of the school premises revealed squalid bathrooms. "The school administration is planning to clean up everything with acidic liquids as soon as the school starts. But the problem is with the students themselves. Most of them come from poor backgrounds and display poor knowledge of hygiene," says Rizq. The school, with more than 3,000 students and 20 bathrooms, has just two cleaners. The average number of students per class ranges between 40- 45 students, contradicting assurances given by Minister of Education Yosri El-Gamal in a press conference conducted last week stating that 40 would be the absolute maximum. Abdel-Gaffar insists that the failure to distribute cleaning tools and detergents remained an isolated problem. "Few schools have yet to receive these materials, which will be delivered to them in a matter of few days. In such cases school heads have been requested to buy these materials from the school fees collected from parents until the ministry sends them," he said. Some schools have resorted to dividing boys and girls, teaching them on alternate days, to reduce class size. At Port Said School in Zamalek boys will attend on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, girls on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. "I am sending my son there because I want him to grow up in a mixed school environment," complains Rabab Fawaz. "They still can divide the pupils over different days to reduce crowds, but they should keep boys and girls together." Other government schools are imposing a shift system, with the first three years of primary stage attending between 7am and 11.30pm, and remaining years from 12pm until 3.30pm. Many working parents object. "This means I will not be able to go to work because I have a son in the primary stage that I have to wait for until he returns and a daughter in the preparatory level whom I must take to school," says Ebtehal Ahmed. "Officials do not really care about us, they seem just to be making knee jerk decisions without assessing the consequences." Sayed Mustafa, parent of a pupil at a Helwan school, complains of lack of water and unfit bathrooms with broken toilets. "I have submitted a complaint, along with several parents, to the minister of education asking for a solution to the problem, but we did not receive a reply." Said Emara, deputy of the Helwan Education Directorate, denies any such problems exist. "I toured most of Helwan's schools and did not find any problems with water or anything else. Nor have I received any complaints from the students," he said. At least 20 million students are enrolled this year in Egypt's schools and universities. In a word of caution to parents, Amr Qandil, deputy minister for preventive medicine, warned parents against any laxity in dealing with the virus. "People must be very cautious. A person will only get swine flu if they catch it from someone else so if anyone thinks they are coming down with the flu they should stay home," he said.
