The semester at my school will begin on February 25th. I got this news after I arrived back from Canada early this month. I was emailed some COVID-19 rules regarding school closures. If 1 student or a teacher is diagnosed, that homeroom class will be quarantined for 14 days. If 2 students are infected, the whole school will be shut down for 14 days. If one third of schools in your district, city or township have students or teachers diagnosed, all the schools in that particular territory will be shut down for 14 days.
One thing is for certain is that the summer holidays will be shortened because the semester will end on July 14th. So I hope that COVID-19 does not go out of control within the schools because enough time is gone.
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Man that is intense.
My friend’s school is going to be enforcing a strict masks on at all times rule. Also regular desk sanitation and temperature checks of students.
The next few months are going to be a parental nightmare. Every time your kid gets a slight fever they’re going to be sent home.
Someone had posted something somewhere on this site about an American school in Beijing during SARS having strict handwashing routines and not allowing anyone resembling sick to come to school.
No one came down with anything the whole time. Not even a sniffle.
You’d think schools would be more common sense about handwashing just for the sake of student attendance in general, but, alas, our principal thinks the new MOE requirement to have soap at every sink is overkill.
I will spend the next few weeks teaching where germs come from and how to cover your face when you sneeze cuz I sure as heck don’t want this or any other disease. I teach junior high. This shouldn’t be my job.
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@Kingdomparadise these rules you mention, are they for an international school or a local Taiwanese school?
Mine? A local public school
The rules are for the public schools.
I never understand this.
It’s hard to run a business. I just had a conversation with my offshore client that although things may return to normality next week, there may be another Sunday night 8pm decision announcement depending on what happens.
The decision to cancel school was basically “we’re scared and some other Asian countries have cancelled school, so we should too I s’pose”. It leaves them in a difficult spot now if things do start to ramp up…
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Our school, high school, opened this week (Monday). Nothing different. Spray hands with alcohol at the door and temperature. It’s Friday and many kids and teachers have already stopped wearing masks. I think things will be back to normal soon enough
the schools without toffs
A public health issue is just that. I don’t get why private schools should be able to do what they want.
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At least one I know of seems to be following the same rules. Can’t speak for the others.
oh i see. The decision to make it voluntary for all schools was also questionable in the same spirit. I mean is it an emergency closure or not, should not be voluntary for each school. Of course we know it was spineless politicking, fobbing the decision that inconveniences parents onto the school.
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The whole thing’s pretty weird. The death rate China is reporting is so low, but why then are they reacting so disproportionately? Why would the Chinese Communist Party risk economic growth which they are reliant on for staying in power, for a virus that doesn’t seem particularly deadly? Basically, with the figures currently available, if COVID-19 took off in a school the only person who would have a chance of death would be the elderly janitor. Something doesn’t add up.
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Imma be “that teacher”. “Turn around and wash your hands for 20 seconds before entering the room”.
The MOE guidance included allowing students extra time to wash hands. I think part of the reason students haven’t developed good handwashing habits comes from being yelled at for taking too long. Now, there are always the kids who take ten minutes to wash their hands, but there’s too much evidence that proper handwashing is more effective than proper rubbing alcohol use. If a few problem kids wanna miss class by washing their hands, I don’t even care. Imma demand proper Handwashing and slow the spread of disease.
But there are no janitors here, so no one will die? 
Or maybe since the students are janitors, we’ll all die?
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Depends how elderly your students are.
I was on the phone with my mother last Friday. She asked me if I am sure I want to go back to Canada and I told her that I have my contract to complete but I am fine. She just arrived in Jamaica today so I told her that she will be OK there because Jamaica has no cases of COVID-19.
From the time I have written this reply, the second semester at my school begins tomorrow.
So I am hoping and praying that this pandemic does not hit my school, nor the local district where I am because there is no more time to lose.
Taiwan already has 28 cases so far, but I still consider that very low in comparison to the number of cases in South Korea, which has exploded from 88 to 600. But as long as I am here in Taiwan, I will still be safer but at the same time vigilant.
What? You didn’t have soap before?
That’s fubared.
Bushiban owners are happy. Closed schools means more money for their daycare.