A fear of severe acute respiratory syndrome has led several private schools in Britain to bar students returning from spring break.

A 10-day quarantine has been ordered for about 7,000 boarding school students coming back from visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province.

The government of Hong Kong says the move is discriminatory and will stigmatize those students when they do go back to class.

The head of the Boarding School Association, Adrian Underwood, sympathizes, but says the quarantine is necessary.

"If at the end of a 10-day period you feel discriminated against but we have no outbreak of this virus in our schools then I think it's a small price to pay," he said.

Some children will stay in hotels with their parents. Others are heading to Ireland, Holland and France. But 155 will go to quarantine camps in Dorset and the Isle of Wight where field study and activities will be provided.