Dundee Chinese School has had to temporarily close to prevent any possibility coronavirus spreading in Tayside.
The school closure was a precaution staff decided to take following Chinese government advice about large gatherings and there is no suspicion anyone has the potentially deadly illness.
Chinese New Year celebrations due to take place on February 2 had already been cancelled. The school, which operates from Morgan Academy, will re-open on February 23 as long as it is safe to do so.
Despite the closure, children, parents and staff have raised £3,940 for coronavirus victims in China, which will be handed to the UK Association for the Promotion of Chinese Education (UAPCE) for distribution to the relevant organisations in China.
The money will help pay for medicines, face masks and other support for sufferers.
Dundee Chinese School headteacher Yanyang Laird said: “Although we’ve been closed, we’ve been organising fundraising via our social media parents’ group.
“The parents donated the tuition fees that they got refunded for the closure period, the staff also made donations and the children all brought £1 last time they were here.
“We gave people the school bank details via the social media group and people donated through that.
“We have 76 children so all the bits and bobs added up and we’ve raised £3940 over a period of around seven or eight days.
“We will hand it over to UAPCE. It will pay for supplies for people in China who are suffering with Coronavirus.”
Ms Laird said the school closure was a precaution following Chinese government advice.
“We had to cancel our Chinese New Year celebrations that we were planning to have on February 2.
“Around Chinese New Year a lot of people also go back to China and the advice is that when they come back they should stay in isolation for 14 days.
“The Chinese government has also said to avoid large gatherings to prevent the spread of the disease.
“I don’t think anyone here actually has coronavirus but it’s a precaution, just in case they might have it after coming back from China.
“Hopefully we will re-open on February 23 for the new term, but we’ll have to wait and see how things are.”
At Dundee Chinese School, children learn Chinese language, calligraphy, art, dance and more.
