SHUTTING down schools will be the last resort for the Education Ministry if cases of swine flu are found, said Minister Esther LeGendre.

’While we will consider it, if the situation warrants, it is a last resort,’ the Minister of Education said yesterday.

Over the past two months several schools had confirmed cases of the swine flu virus.

’We will only shut a school when it is absolutely necessary and that is... when there is a proven onward transmission of swine flu,’ she said.

LeGendre was at the handing over ceremony of the St Paul’s Anglican Primary School at the compound of the new building on Harris Street, San Fernando.

The new school which was built at the cost of $3.7 million can facilitate 870 pupils which almost doubled the present population of 475.

It includes a library, music and computer, science, and audio visual rooms.

LeGendre said there was a group of school supervisors to deal with the swine flu issue.

’I don’t have the figures on a daily basis, but I imagine there are less than 15 cases confirmed in a school population of over 250,000, so the number is small,’ she said.