South City International School has decided to declare a holiday from Monday for students up to Class II to protect children from the coronavirus.

The students in Tiny Tots, Foundation, Prep and classes I and II will return to school when the new session begins in April.

The school has been recording low attendance, especially in the primary section, for the past few days.

“In the past 10 days, the attendance had gone down to almost 50 per cent. We also felt that the immunity of these children is still developing and so they can stay at home instead of coming to school,” said John Bagul, the principal.

Children in the primary section are aged between three and seven and many parents want to avoid exposing their wards to large gatherings as precaution against the coronavirus.

“Chances of infection are more in the younger age group and it is advisable not to expose them to unnecessary public gatherings. When there are travel restrictions, children can stay at home because in a school they will have to touch handlebars or door knobs. They will not know how to protect themselves if someone is coughing or sneezing beside them,” said Apurba Ghosh, the director of the Institute of Child Health.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, has recommended that a child be taught handwashing to reduce the spread of germs.

Children must be taught to wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, “especially after blowing their nose, coughing or sneezing, going to the washroom and before eating or preparing food”.

But Ghosh said younger children, especially in our country, were usually not so aware of hygiene needs.

“Children develop immunity by the age of seven. Before that they regularly contract viral infections and mothers usually send their children to school even with a little respiratory infection. They tend to huddle in a group and infect each other,” said paediatrician B.K. Manocha.

The school’s decision will be communicated to parents on Thursday. “They will come to school for the next two days,” Bagul said.

The children were supposed to attend school till March 27, when the short-term break would begin for the entire school.

The children will have to go to school with their parents on March 27 to collect report cards.