Thai Public Health and Education Ministries discuss regulation plans for on-site school reopening in Mid-May

PHOTO: INN News

National –

  Thailand’s Minister of Public Health and Ministry of Education yesterday, May 4th, held a meeting to prepare the regulation plan for the return of on-site school reopenings on May 17th.

Dr. Satit Pitutecha, Deputy Minister of Public Health, revealed to the Associated Press that the joint meeting was to clarify the preventive measures for the on-site classes of the academic year 2022 at educational institutions nationwide under the basic principle of what they called 3T 1V “Cutting Risk, Boost Immunity.”

For boarding schools, they must follow proceedings in line with the “Sandbox: Safety Zone in Schools (SSS)” and other similar measures issued by the Provincial Public Health Office and the Provincial Education Department. The measures are as follows:

  1. Accelerate vaccination to cover as large a number of voluntary students as possible.
  2. Educational institutions must be assessed under the “Thai Stop COVID Plus” and must pass the assessment at more than 95 percent.
  3. Prepare the implementation of the response plan if officials find any Covid-19 infections or a high-risk exposure in the school areas and not immediately order schools’ or classes’ to shut down as all students should be fully educated at schools.
  4. The provincial public health office is ordered to strictly follow the measures and assign the provincial health centers to supervise local residents in their responsible areas.

If an infected person is found in a boarding school, ‘School isolation’ is required according to the SSS measures, the Deputy Minister added.

For day schools, similar measures to boarding schools are applied. The only difference was when an infection was found, the school could sanitize the certain classroom where the infection was found before operating onsite classes as normal, according to the Ministry of Public Health guidelines.

When a high-risk person is found and if they are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, quarantine is not required. But if they are not fully vaccinated, they must conduct self-quarantine for 5 days and follow-up for another 5 days.

“If anyone is having suspicious symptoms, they are highly advised to conduct self-administered ATK testing immediately. If asymptomatic, then the ATK testing is not required. For high-risk contacts, ATK testing is recommended on the 5th and 10th day after contacting an infected person,” Dr. Satit continued.

Dr. Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, Director General of the Department of Disease Control Department, further stated that the educational institutions must also prepare for their On-Site semester opening according to “3T-1V safety measures” and “6-6-7” measures at all times in order for the school, school personnel, and students to reopen safely with Covid-19 Coronavirus.

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Nop Meechukhun
National News Writer at The Pattaya News from September 2020 to October 2022. Born and raised in Bangkok, Nop enjoys telling stories of her hometown through her words and pictures. Her educational experience in the United States and her passion for journalism have shaped her genuine interests in society, politics, education, culture, and art.