It’s back to school for some students in Hong Kong

Primary and secondary schools can resume half-day face-to-face classes starting today, but for no more than one-sixth of their total number of students at a time.

Previously, only small groups of primary six students are allowed into schools to sit exams, and secondary six students are permitted to attend face-to-face lessons.

Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said last Monday that the authorities have received feedback from schools, expressing the desire to maintain a degree of face-to-face lessons.

A secondary five student of a Lok Fu school said this morning that he is thrilled to go back to the school campus.

“It has been two months since I last went back to school, the vibe of learning online at home is just not the same as in a classroom, it feels lazy. It is also fabulous to finally meet my classmates,” he said.

Another secondary one student said she is not worried about getting infected in school as they are only having half-day classes, they are also not allowed to eat at school.

“I am excited to be back to see my friends, it is just the cold that is getting in my way, making it hard for me to wake up for school,” she added.

The chairman of the Subsidized Secondary Schools Council, Lau Chun-hung, said teachers in the city are particularly worried about students in secondary three, five and six, where they need to prepare for choosing subjects under the new senior secondary curriculum and the HKDSE respectively.

Lau, also a school principal of a local secondary school, said he had arranged for secondary six students to return to morning school this week, preparing them for the coming HKDSE exams.

“While for students in other grades, given the epidemic is yet to be contained, we will maybe wait until the Lunar New Year holidays to be over to see what we can do,” said Lau.