The Ministry of Education has no intention to postpone or cancel first semester exams because of mumps, Education Ministry spokesperson Mohamed al-Serougy said on Tuesday, despite the number of mumps cases reaching 1,200.
Serougy added that the number of cases is expected to increase with the onset of winter. In order to minimize the spread of the disease, the ministry will be reducing the number of students in classrooms.
Among the preventative measures the ministry will be pursuing, Serougy said, are changing school hours so that classes will be divided into two halves, which would each be in attendance only three days a week.
Seroughy said the same measures were implemented during the swine flu and bird flu outbreaks, which were both more severe. In neither case, he said, were exams postponed or cancelled.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
