Cluster-area students get leave

A primary school next to the Sha Tin public housing estate caught up in the latest Covid-19 outbreak is allowing students to be absent over health concerns, as primary four to secondary two pupils returned to school yesterday.

SKH Holy Spirit Primary School is located about 200 meters away from Luk Chuen House of Lek Yuen Estate, where seven residents were confirmed with the coronavirus in the past week.

The school has less than a dozen students from the building, all of whom have tested negative for the virus, according to its vice principal Tin Siu-bun.

"Class resumption is a requirement from the education bureau, [but] parents can choose whether or not to send their children to the school," Tin said, adding that absent pupils citing health concerns will not be punished.

The school has set up a special eating zone outside its snack bar using plastic barriers and providing disinfectant, with cleaning staff also standing by. Students will be seated at least one meter apart from each other in the classroom.

Despite these measures, some parents still worry about potential health risks, as one said: "I told my child not to bring snacks to school."

The parent said her kid brought several masks on the first day back to school.

Other parents are less concerned about class resumption. "I feel so relieved. At least I no longer need to watch over my daughter all the time, like watching over a cow. She always sleeps late and wants to play at home," a mother, Cheung, said outside a school in Tsuen Wan.

Elsewhere in Wan Chai, a primary four student,Tang, said: "I haven't seen my classmates for so long, I'm afraid that I might forget their names. That would be so awkward."

Some 24 secondary schools in Sha Tin have urged the education bureau to consider extending class suspension until the patients in Lek Yuen Estate are proved to pose a lower health risk.

Still, the government decided to go along with the original plan for students to return to school yesterday, including those in Sha Tin.

Education secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said last week that schools in the district would be "more careful and meticulous in their preparation work" to welcome pupils back.

Meanwhile, many cross-border students still cannot return to schools due to the compulsory 14-day quarantine arrangements both in Hong Kong and Guangdong.

Fung Kai No 1 Primary School in the Sheung Shui saw about 300 pupils living on the mainland absent yesterday.

Last week, Yeung said the government is planning for some 2,500 cross-boundary students from secondary three to five to go back to classes in mid-June.

Classes for kindergarten three to primary three pupils will resume on June 15, while younger kids will not go back to school at all for this academic year.