School Resumption Plan May Fall Apart, Says Principal

Legislator and secondary school principal Tang Fei on Thursday warned that the government’s plan to resume face-to-face classes after the Easter holiday could “fall apart” if students can’t meet the conditions required to enter schools.

All pupils will have to take daily rapid Covid tests and only those with a negative result can go to school. Students are also barred from taking part in non-academic activities if they aren’t vaccinated.

On an RTHK programme, Tang said the daily test requirement is somewhat “troublesome.”

He said he is worried that some parents may not be able to purchase sufficient rapid test kits for their children, due to a sudden rise in demand or shops raising the price to take advantage of the situation.

Tang, who is the vice-chairman of the Federation of Education Workers, said although the government will provide some 10 million test kits to underprivileged pupils, this is only enough in the short-term and there are also families who aren't well-off but who are ineligible for subsidies.

“What I am worried about now is that families who can’t afford to buy or get hold of rapid test kits may request the schools to arrange online classes or ask for leave for their children. If such a trend arises, the so-called resumption of face-to-face classes would fall apart,” he said.

“You can’t really say parents have no right to demand online classes if their children couldn’t meet the condition of attending classes physically,” Tang added.

He called on the government to issue clear guidelines in the event of students turning up without test results and whether schools will be allowed to administer tests.