13-06-2022
The preventive guidance for returning to school during COVID-19
(For middle and high school students over 12 years old)
School’s preparations for a safe return:
The school administration must prepare a plan under the supervision of the School Health Affairs Department at the Ministry of Education and includes the following:
- Distribute the training package for the (Basic of Infection Prevention and Control) that prepared by the School Health Department at the Ministry of Health and The school administration must conduct training courses to the educational and administrative staff on that training package.
- The plan should cover all the activities that the teacher or student goes through during the school day (transportation – classrooms – gathering places – the cafeteria – toilets – school clinics… etc.).
- The communication mechanisms for employees, parents and the healthcare center are as follows:
- A clear communication mechanism between the school, the responsible healthcare center, and the responsible authorities, and reporting the emergency cases in the school as soon as possible.
- A clear mechanism to deal with suspected cases and isolate them from the rest of the contacts to stop the infection.
- A clear mechanism for dealing with positive cases that may exist in the school and tracing the contacts and suspension of the educational process as determined by the local health authorities.
- School must prepare the plan in cooperation with the healthcare center to provide the necessary support to complete the plan in order to raise the schools’ readiness.
Vaccination according to the students age group
- In person learning does not require students to be fully vaccinated, and parents should be encouraged to complete the needed doses for their children.
Family Role:
School and family must communicate with each other and share information and instructions about the following:
- Promote the general health of their children, including: healthy food such as fruits and vegetables, adequate sleep, especially at night, reducing sugars and encouraging them to do physical activity.
- Parents should provide their children with personal protective equipment: such as (masks and hand sanitizer) according to the child’s age and his/her ability to use them and understand their importance.
- Parents should provide their children personal supplies such as food, water bottles, and all school supplies, so they would not use shared tools in school.
- Isolation and reporting: parents should not allow their sick children to go to school until he recovers*, with the importance of seeing a doctor or calling 937 in case the symptoms improved.
- Student must return to school after he/ she recovers*, with ensuring the student health status through Tawakkalna application.
- Educate the students of the importance of preventive measures against respiratory diseases especially physical distancing, washing hands with soap and water, safe disposal of used tissues, and sneezing etiquette.
* The recovery period is according to the health status in Tawakkalna application.
Transportation:
A lot of students ride buses to school, which may consider as an environment for disease transmission, so the following measures must be taken:
Hand hygiene and sneezing etiquette:
- Clean hands before and after getting off from the bus, by using hand sanitizers contain at least 60% from alcohol.
- Provide buses with hand sanitizers.
- The bus driver or escort shall encourage the student to use the hand sanitizers.
- Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing with a tissue or use elbow by bending the arm, then dispose of the used tissue in the trash.
- Urge students to wash their hands with water and soap for at least 40 seconds or using hand sanitizer that contain 60% of alcohol.
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Avoid touching surfaces:
- Avoid touching surfaces that frequently touched by others inside the bus such as door handle and windows.
- Ensure good ventilation inside the bus and open the windows whenever possible.
Disinfection of buses:
- The bus must be disinfected after students left, especially frequently touched surfaces such as windows and door handles, according to the disinfection and sterilization guide issued by the Public Health Authority, in the following link:
Drivers and escorts:
- Urge drivers and escorts to complete COVID-19 vaccine doses.
- Directing employees to follow the instructions of the Ministry of Health and relevant authorities regarding COVID-19 regarding allowing any employees to resume work, including employees returning from travel.
- Oblige all employees (driver and escort) to apply self-isolation in if they develop any symptoms.
Attendance, leaving and classrooms:
- Wearing mask is not required in outdoor or indoor areas, but it is recommended to wear it indoors.
- Ensure good ventilation inside the classrooms and open windows.
School facilities:
- Ensure periodic disinfection and sterilization of school facilities and places that used by more than one person, such as toilets.
- Consider disinfecting frequently touched surfaces such as door handles, light buttons, and shelves.
- Set a periodic schedule for cleaning the classrooms and other facilities with appropriate disinfectants (according to Weqaya Guide), on the following link:
- Provide the cleaning and disinfection supplies and the necessary workers.
- Ensure good ventilation and open windows.
- Safe disposal of waste.
The educational and administrative staff in the school and other workers:
- Urge all educational and administrative staff and the other workers to complete COVID-19 vaccine doses.
- Wearing mask is not required in outdoor or indoor areas, but it is recommended to wear it indoors.
Visitors:
- Wearing mask is not required in outdoor or indoor areas, but it is recommended to wear it indoors.
- Allocate a suitable place to receive visitors, such as parents.
Educate students on the infection control standards:
- Activate the role of the health counselor in supervising the application of infection control standards in the school
- Educate students on hand hygiene and the etiquette of coughing and sneezing.
Isolation rooms:
- Allocate an appropriate room to isolate suspected cases or prepare a suitable place if there is no empty room.
- Provide the protective equipment such as hand sanitizers and masks.
Health awareness with cooperation with Ministry of Health:
- Determine the target groups (students / educational and administrative staff / families).
- Identification of priority topics which include:
- About the virus, its symptoms, and ways of transmission.
- Healthy personal behaviors to follow, for example: hand washing and etiquette for coughing and sneezing.
- Raise awareness of the importance of taking the vaccine to prevent the virus transition.
- The preventive measures that should be applied in the school.
- Educate parents about the chronic diseases that may increase the risk of complications in the event of infection with COVID-19.
- The school health department in the health affairs directorates or health clusters in the region or governorate should prepare a school health awareness plan in the education departments for implementation by the health counselor inside the school.
- The school health supervisor in the Education Department conducts field visits to ensure the implementation of preventive measures in the school.
Establish a mechanism for communication between the healthcare center and the school:
- Communication between the school and the supervising healthcare center according to the approved linkage process.
- Fill out the communication forms between the school and the healthcare center (according to the attached forms).
- Increase school health awareness activities related to infection control in coordination between the healthcare center and the school.
- Follow-up and ensure the provision of protective equipment in schools that recommended by the Public Health Authority.
- Set a reporting mechanism for suspected and cases in contact with confirmed case in the school and submit it from the Education Department in the region to the School Health Department in the Health Affairs/Assembly in the region.
Monitoring and reporting of suspected cases and cases in contact:
Monitor respiratory symptoms:
- The school must monitor the daily attendance and in case of the absence increased resulting from flu symptoms.
- Monitor the appearance of respiratory symptoms among students.
- If any student shows respiratory symptoms (fever, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath) record his name on the monitoring sheet and dealing with him/ her according to the suspected case protocols.
- Prepare a list of absent students due to respiratory symptoms for the purpose of investigation.
- Keep a record of absences due to diseases or respiratory symptoms in case they are needed for the purposes of epidemiological investigation of confirmed cases.
Mechanism for dealing with suspected cases:
- Oblige students and educational or administrative staff who have symptoms (fever, cough, or shortness of breath) to inform the school and stay at home.
- Educate parents to prevent their children from attending the school if they show respiratory symptoms.
Mechanism for dealing with suspected cases:
- Isolate suspected cases in a well-ventilated room.
- Suspected cases must avoid touching surfaces.
- Urge suspected cases to cover the nose and mouth with a tissue while sneezing and to dispose of the tissue directly into the waste bin.
- If the paper tissue is not available, it is recommended to use elbow by bending the arm.
- If the suspected case needs a toilet while waiting for the medical team, it is recommended to use a separate toilet, and if it is not available, the bathroom must be disinfected well with the recommended sterilizers.
- If the case is stable the case’s guardian will take him to the hospital or calling the ambulance if the case is an emergency.
- The school administration should make a list of confirmed cases and students in contact with them and provide the Education Department and the School Health Department in the region with that list according to the daily reporting form for COVID-19 cases.
- Dealing with those cases according to the mechanism for dealing with suspected and confirmed cases within the school.
Parents:
- Reassure the parents of their child’s condition and that the measures that will be taken in favor of the suspected case and those in contact with him.
- Educate parents about the virus transition ways and the need to treat the case as a positive case until the result of the test become negative.
- Ask parents about the data recorded from the suspected case about the date and method of exposure.
- Give the parents the name of the health facility in which the suspected case was directed.
Mechanism for dealing with confirmed cases and those in contact with confirmed cases outside and inside the school:
- Confirmed cases and contacts outside the school are dealt with according to the updated guidance for that.
Institute and program of special education:
- Special procedures should be allocated to special educational programs and institutes, in addition to general protocols and guidelines, because of the many challenges that this category faces.
- special categories include:
- learning disabilities
- Blind, visually impaired
- deaf, limited hearing
- intellectual disability
- autism spectrum disorder
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- multiple handicapped
- Physical and health handicap
- speech disorders
- slow learning
Because the needs differ according to the disability, special precautions must be set for each category:
The precautions measures for students with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:
- Use toys to explain the symptoms (cough, cold, fever) and what the student should do if he/she feels ill (e.g. headache, stomach ache, fever or fatigue) and how they can calm a sick person (e.g. showing sympathy but without neglecting the necessary precautions to prevent infection).
- Encourage student to wash hands frequently for 40 seconds, without making him/her feel afraid by doing something he/she loves such as sing songs.
- Ensure that students’ complaints are heard, and their questions answered in an age-appropriate manner.
- Allocate some activity classes on the school day and show simplified scientific content about the respiratory infections, how to prevent them, and the correct practices for personal care and hygiene.
Precautionary measures for students with visual impairment:
- Ensure to sanitize the teaching aids in Braille, because student with visual impairment use and touch those aids frequently.
- Oblige students with visual impairment to use the white cane when moving because it gives them a space and they can avoid touching others, provided that they take them home and sterilize it.
Precautionary measures for students with hearing impairment:
- Provide teaching aids about the precautionary measures with sign language or educational videos.
Precautionary measures for students with intellectual disabilities:
- Design the instructions using cartoon characters or pictures that are attractive to students.
Precautionary measures for students with sensory disabilities:
- Providing appropriate means about the precautionary measures in (Braille language) for students with the visual impairment and in (sign language) for students with Hearing impairment.
Precautionary measures for students with physical handicap:
- Creating and adapting the environment, through: Providing sterilizers and gloves next to the slopes and in places around them.
Precautionary measures for students with learning disabilities:
- Provide the instructions in the form of posters and symbolic instructions.
