Oslo: Students harassed after getting swine flu

Oslo: Students harassed after getting swine flu

Several students at Jordal school in Oslo who got swine flu were harassed for being bad Muslims.

"The students thought that maybe they had eaten pork and therefore became sick," says the school prinicpal, Sissel Gråberg Vatn.

When some of the students at the school became sick, several of the employees got concerned.

The principal contacted the Islamic Council of Norway to find out a solution for the problem.

Jordal school is not the only school which experienced the problem, says general secretary Shoaib Sultan of the Islamic Council.

"We've gotten reports from two schools," he adds.

The Islamic Council checked its own mailing lists to find out if the harassment is going on in other schools.  they haven't gotten a response from any of the other schools in our district.

The General Secretary therefore thinks that this problem can be found now in only those two schools in Oslo.

District Doctor Trude Arnesen thinks it's a serious problem that students are beginning to hide that they've gotten swine flu.

"When the students have swine flu and go around in the schools or kindergartens, they can infect others," says the district doctor.

The Islamic Council supports a proposal not to use the name "swine flu" and call it H1N1 instead.

This was already tried at Jordal school.

In addition the Islamic Council thinks we should call the parents of the students in order to prevent further misunderstanding, because written reports often don't reach them.

Source: NRK (Norwegian)

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