Fil-Chinese students, teachers asked to observe home quarantine

Foreign and Filipino-Chinese teachers and students who will be trooping to the 48 Chinese schools in Metro Manila this June were told to observe the 14-day voluntary home confinement.

In an orientation of officials and teachers from the 27 Chinese schools in Manila last Wednesday, Dr. Maria Corazon Dumlao of the Department of Education (DepEd) school health division stressed that students and teachers who had just arrived from SARS affected countries such as China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong should avoid coming back to school immediately and first observe the required 14-day home confinement.

This, she said, is a good SARS prevention measure.

"For the safety of school population, anybody who had just come from SARS-affected countries should stay home for the voluntary quarantine," Dumlao said in the public health and security orientation for Chinese schools in Manila held at the Angelo King Kaisa Heritage Center in Intramuros on Wednesday.

While the forum was for Manila’s 27 Chinese schools, Teresita Ang See, who was one of the organizers of the event for the Filipino-Chinese community, said that the other 21 Chinese schools in Metro Manila were represented in the orientation seminar.

Aside from Dumlao, Health Undersecretary Margarita Galon and Western Police District director, Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong also discussed other school concerns such as school security and crime syndicates, particularly kidnap-for-ransom gangs.

Ang-See urged school authorities, teachers and students to obey the plea for the observance of the home confinement. She assured that they will be excused from classes.