Boarding schools adopt SARS quarantine measures

Boarding schools across the UK are warning parents to keep their children at home if they have visited any SARS affected areas over the holiday period.

The nation's most prestigious boarding school, Eton College in Surrey, has contacted parents to say that some pupils should not return for the summer term before serving a 10-day quarantine period.

The headmaster's letter to parents read: "On the advice of our school doctor, who has consulted the Public Health Laboratory Service, we cannot accept boys back into their boarding houses who have visited Hong Kong, Singapore or Guangdong Province, China, within the previous 10 days. This decision will cause inconvenience to some families for which I apologise, but it is made in the best interests of all our boys."

However, the education department's current advice is that if pupils are symptom free, then those returning from SARS affected areas are not a risk to others and should be allowed to continue their schooling as normal.

The Hong Kong government has also contacted schools to highlight its concern that Hong Kong resident pupils would be "stigmatised" if told to stay away from school.

"We are quite concerned about this restriction as it would cause undue inconvenience and stress to both students and parents," the letter read.

"While we appreciate the need for caution and protection, this discriminatory action will serve to stigmatise our students at schools, which is most undesirable from an educational point of view."

A spokesman for the Boarding Schools' Association has urged also schools to "consider the removal" of any automatic quarantine measures that have been imposed on Hong Kong students.

It is estimated that as many as 7,000 pupils have spent time in SARS affected countries during the holidays.

(GMcG)