Discrimination claims over student jabs raise alarm

Parents have voiced concerns about potential discrimination after a Ho Man Tin secondary school required unvaccinated students to sit away from others and dine in special rooms.

A children's group said segregation encourages discrimination and harms the students' mental health.

The Education Bureau had allowed Scientia Secondary School to resume full-day classes for secondary five students yesterday after at least 90 percent of them had been vaccinated with two doses.

Secondary schools can resume full-day classes if 90 percent of their students are fully vaccinated. Schools can also opt for a partial resumption if only specific levels meet the requirement.

Since the resumption of half-day face-to-face classes on May 3, Scientia Secondary School has arranged the seats of 18 unvaccinated students next to windows.

Transparent partitions have also been installed on the students' desks.

The school said 40 Secondary five students without vaccination or who only have one shot are also required to take their lunch in special rooms and are not allowed to take part in extracurricular activities.

School head Wong Ching-yung said the move is meant to protect students who are not vaccinated.

"Some parents feel we are discriminating against the students," Wong said. "Some students also feel uncomfortable being separated. But our hope is to encourage them to get vaccinated as soon as possible."

Wong added: "We will also review the move later."

Special lunch rooms for students who have not had two jabs also await students of Church of Christ in China Kwei Wah Shan College in North Point, according to principal Wong Chung-leung.

The school is set to resume full-day classes on Monday.

"This move will make students who have and haven't received full vaccination have mutual protection," he said.

A nonprofit organization, the Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights, criticized the arrangements, saying extracurricular activities are essential to children's development and an integral part of education, adding they should not be separated from academics.

"Since students must test negative every day before they can go to class, they should have the right to participate in all school activities as all the other students," it said.

"Separating students encourages discrimination, harms them physically and mentally and disregards their best well-being."

The criticism came after Lau Yu-lung, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, suggested last month that unvaccinated students sit near window sand be prohibited from joining outdoor activities.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said the government will take Lau's suggestion into consideration.

"It would be good for schools to make arrangements according to their environments. And they should enhance ventilation as much as possible," he said. Yeung also called on schools and parents to arrange for students to get vaccinated.

roxanne.li@singtaonewscorp.com