More Students Resume In-person Classes

Hong Kong moved a step closer to returning to normal life on Tuesday as more children resumed face-to-face classes.

Some kindergarten and secondary school students were allowed back to school as a further relaxation of social distancing rules came into effect.

At the entrance of a kindergarten in Kowloon Tong, staff greeted children one by one before helping them to sanitise their hands and checking their temperature.

"Wow you’ve grown a lot," said one staff member as she gave a big hug to a returning student.

Some parents told RTHK their children were excited to be back at school.

"I told her that she's going back to school today and she was very happy," said a father surnamed Leung.

But he added that preparing for the first day of school was not all smooth because of the new requirement for students to conduct daily rapid tests.

"I spent half an hour this morning trying to persuade her to do the test," said Leung.

A mother said she and her child woke up an hour earlier than usual as they were worried about the extra time needed for the rapid test and possible traffic jams.

The kindergarten's principal, Betty Choi, said she and her staff were surprised by how quickly the children adapted to seeing their classmates and teachers in person.

"At first, we were worried that some students may feel emotional or may oversleep, but that didn't happen, the children were quick to get used to the daily sanitising and other precautionary measures," she said.

But at a primary school in Wong Tai Sin, a grade three student said it was hard having to get up early for school.

"I feel very tired," she said, adding that she wasn’t used to doing a rapid test before heading to school.

Officials had said they aim to have students of all grades return to on-campus learning by mid-May, while full-day classes may resume at secondary schools depending on the vaccination status of students.