School unaware of 'close' order

The Sri Cempaka International School in Cheras was in the dark about the Health Ministry's directive that it cease operations in view of the A(H1N1) influenza outbreak.

Due to the lack of communication, the school administration held a press conference at 2.30pm to inform the media that only two classrooms have been closed.

However, three hours earlier, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai had announced that the school has been ordered to close for one week since two of its students had contracted the disease.

According to Cempaka Schools Sdn Bhd chairperson Freida Pilus, the school was never informed about the directive.

"I had just called them (Health Ministry officers) again before stepping into this (press conference) room. There was no new directive," she told reporters.

She explained that Health Ministry officials yesterday ordered the school to close one classroom after it was found that a student had tested positive of the A(H1N1) virus.

Following this, on its own initiative, the school closed another classroom after a student in that class had contracted the virus.

Written directive on the way

Pilus said the precautionary measure was taken while awaiting instructions from the ministry.

She believed that Liow's statement in the morning may have resulted from miscommunication, leading the minister to conclude that the whole school was closed.

But as the press conference was about to end, Pilus received a call from Health Ministry officers who informed her that a written directive ordering the closure of the entire school was on the way.

"In any case, we are prepared to handle this," she said, explaining that classes will continue via the online classroom.

Sri Cempaka is the fourth school which has been ordered to close temporarily. The other two are the Jalan Davidson Chinese school, SRK Assunta 1 and SRK Assunta 2.

Three others - SMK Seksyen 9 Shah Alam, SMK Damansara Utama in Petaling Jaya and SM Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur - each have one classroom closed.