Stay home if you are sick, Penang school tells pupils

First thing: SJK (C) Poay Wah teacher Koid Khee Thye (left) and other PTA members doing temperature checks on the pupils when they arrive at school.

GEORGE TOWN: If you are sick, stay home and don’t come to school. This is the message sent out by a primary school here to all of its pupils.

In an effort to keep the novel coronavirus at bay, SJK (C) Poay Wah in Tanjung Bungah is conducting daily temperature checks on its pupils before the start of classes.

Not only that, the school is also providing herbal tea to everyone in the school every Thursday as a means to improve their health, especially the pupils.

Headmistress Lian Poh Lai said the school’s parent-teacher association (PTA) assisted the school by screening every pupil upon arriving at the school premises with temperature checking devices.

“This precautionary measure was initiated since early this year following the global outbreak of the virus.

“Initially, only the administrative personnel and I were running the checks on the pupils as most of the teachers were busy with the start of the new school term.

“But after the Chinese New Year holidays, the PTA started assisting us, ” she told The Star at the school yesterday.

Lian said pupils found to have a fever or were sick would be asked to go home.

She said she was thankful as the parents were more alert about the seriousness of the outbreak and gave their full cooperation to the school.

She advised pupils down with the flu to wear protective face masks on their own without being told by the teachers.

“We are also thankful that the PTA is involved in this initiative, ” she added.

Lian, who has been helming the school since 2017, said the students were also being taught to wash their hands with sanitisers during and after their meal break.

School PTA chairman Wee Chong Yue said this was not the first time that the school had taken the initiative to conduct daily health inspection on the pupils.

“The school has been doing this since the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) became prevalent in 2018.

“So, they have experience with this kind of operation.

“They are also doing this following the H1N1 outbreak since early this year, ” he added.

Wee said his fellow PTA members and he felt obliged to help out, adding that they are at the school almost every day since the past few weeks.

He said that apart from assisting, the PTA also donated hand sanitisers and two temperature checking devices.

“We will be conducting this operation for the next few months, ” he added. - Star