Students come armed with sanitisers, tissue...

AS SCHOOLS re-opened yesterday after the June holidays, parents are taking no chances in the wake of the spread of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

Some make their children pack a thermometer in their school bags, others make them take along tissue paper and disinfectant.

Tan Jing Ni, 15, a Secondary 3 student at Chong Boon Secondary, said: "My parents asked me to bring a few packets of wet tissue to school to clean the tables and chairs where I will be seated."

Mr Chen Ming, 37, an insurance agent who walked his 13-year-old son to school yesterday morning, said he was realistic about school.

He said: "Life has to go on. My son has to go to school and people have to go to work. I'm not worried because if everyone takes the necessary precautions, we'll be fine."

Temperature-taking, filling in travel-declaration forms and tight security at the entrance of schools were standard measures that greeted over 520,000 students as they returned to school yesterday.

Mrs Bilveer Singh, the principal of Da Qiao Primary School, said: "The commitment and teamwork from... staff, parents and even the other cluster schools, ensured a smooth flow of procedures this morning."

The school quarantined seven pupils yesterday morning. Mrs Yeo Sai Choo, the school's staff developer who looks into the professional development of the teachers, said: "All seven of them were sent home as a precaution."

Bus operators take preventive measures

BUS companies were ready when schools re-opened yesterday, with each taking its own preventive measures against the spread of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

The chairman of the Singapore School Transport Association(SSTA), Mr Wong Ann Lin, 61, said: "We have taken steps such as temperature-taking in the morning (for our drivers) and washing our vehicles regularly, as we did during the Sars period. We also checked the travel histories of our drivers."

Ng Hong Kok School Bus Service has also implemented similar measures.

Its administrative manager, Ms Angie Ng, 51, said: "In preparation for the first day of school, we told our drivers to disinfect their vehicles as well as to take their temperatures before starting their journeys."

She added: "We are also checking the travel histories of students to ensure that (if they did travel abroad) they came back before June 22, one week before school started."

Others like Bedok Transport have taken to disinfecting their vehicles and making their employees wear surgical masks.

Mr Lionel Lim, 29, director of Bedok Transport, said: "I'm actually quite worried about those students who have travelled abroad infecting my drivers.

From this week, all attendants and drivers are required to wear a mask while at work. We have also given our drivers disinfectant to clean up their buses."

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