The Ministry of Public Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, will train members of the school health and safety committees to implement the precautionary measures in each school to curb the spread of COVID-19. “These committees are essential in the coming stage to ensure the safety of students in schools,” said the Assistant Under-Secretary for Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Fawzia Al Khater urging committee members, parents and students to get more information about the pandemic. She was speaking in a joint press conference to explain the back-to-school plan and safety measures. The conference was also attended by Dr. Yousuf Al Maslamani, Medical Director, Hamad General Hospital from the Ministry of Public Health.
On the distance learning mechanism, Al Khater said: “The approved mechanism in distance learning will continue as it was in the previous academic year, as the education material is available.” She said that those parents who will not be present during the morning to follow lessons with their children, the recorded lessons will be available on the distance learning or MicrosoftTeams platform enabling them to follow up round the clock. “We worked with MicrosoftTeams to solve some of the problems that were faced previously, and we are trying to double the capacity on the platform to allow everyone to benefit from the platform without hindrance, and parents should not be worried about this aspect,” said Al Khater. As for the exams, Al Khater said: “The exams will be held at the school premises because it required to do so and parents must make an effort to follow up their students in the educational process.” “During previous experience, I would like to say, that safe environments were provided for students and for administrative and academic staff during the exam period.”
Al Khater assured that the students who are suffering from chronic diseases will be excluded from attending the school with the necessity to obtain a medical certificate confirming their condition, as they are considered to be more at risk than others. “Students who are staying with a member of his family of first degree with chronic disease also excluded from attending school, provided that they present an approved medical certificate stating that the student resides with a person suffering from a chronic disease with the national address of the patient staying at home.” However, she said, these students will not be excluded from taking the exams at the school headquarters. She assured that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will not take any decision that may put students at risk as it is important to create a safe and healthy school environment for students and school staff. Dr. Yousuf Al Maslamani said that the Ministry of Public Health agreed with the Ministry of Education on certain measures for maintaining the safety of students while they are in the classrooms. “We agreed with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education that the number of students should be limited to a maximum of 15 students per class, and the spacing distance between students should be one and a half metres.” He said that the measures also required wearing face masks for preparatory and secondary school students, stressing that wearing masks will not be mandatory for primary school students. “We advise a student if he/ she has any symptoms of coronavirus to stay at home and not go to school, and if he mixes with an infected person at home, the student must stay in the home quarantine for 14 days to avoid transmitting infection,” said Al Maslamani.
He said that the Hamad Medical Corporation and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education have set health guidelines for the safety of students and school staff. Dr. Yousuf Al Maslamani, Medical Director, Hamad General Hospital has said that the students are safer in school compared to any other place because trained people will be available in the schools to implement preventive and precautionary measures. Speaking in a Qatar TV programme, Dr. Al Maslamani said that all indicators suggest that the cases of coronavirus are declining in the country, so the risk is low for the spread of the virus among school students. “One class will be considered as one family which will not mix-up with the students of other classes,” said Al Maslamani. He said school management and teachers have been instructed to monitor the students in case anyone shows a system of COVID-19 they know how to deal with this. “If parents come to know symptoms of coronavirus in their children, they are recommended to not send the child to school to avoid infection,” Al Maslamani added. “Ministry of Public Health will keep monitoring closely during first two weeks to take the stock of the situation. The teams from the Ministry for tracing will focus on schools as the burden reduced on them with a decreasing number of cases in the country.” He said that after two weeks random screening will be conducted to ensure the situation of COVID-19 in schools and revise the decision for reopening schools.
Talking in the same programme, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Shared Services Affairs, Ali Abdullah Al Buainain said, that for the first three days, students will be trained on precautionary measures, in addition to handing them weekly attendance schedules and registering students for a seat on the bus. He said that the students can register for bus service online through the website of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, a link for registration will be provided soon. Adding that school canteen might not open in phase one which could be opened later. “We would like to advice to parents to provide meals to the students after wrapping it properly as it is better to bring foods from home,” said Al Buainain. He said that as per the indications from the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will review when to open school canteens. “We instructed schools to not allow students gathering at tables in the canteen and let students eat in the classroom during breaks.” “Bus drivers will also be required to follow the preventive and precautionary measures like not mixing up with other workers and undergo thermal screening,” said Al Buainain.
