Students Lost Subsidy As Covid Forced Classes Online

A small number of students who enrolled in a continuing tertiary education course at the Open University say they’ve been deprived of a government subsidy after the institution changed the curriculum and cancelled all face-to-face classes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s according to district councillor Ben Lam, who said on Saturday that he received complaints from eight students who studied at the institution’s “corporate administration and secretaryship programme”.

Each of them would have been eligible to apply for a maximum subsidy of HK$20,000 from the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) which requires at least 30 percent of the class to be taught in person.

But in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, the university moved the course entirely online in February.

Speaking at a press conference, Lam quoted the students as saying the CEF told the institution to arrange extra physical classes to meet the subsidy criteria or offer a refund, but the university said students should consider sitting in on other classes.

One of the affected students, who gave her surname as Chu, said she only found out she became ineligible when she applied for the subsidy after graduating recently, and accused the university of not warning students in advance that they would no longer be reimbursed.

Chu said she simply cannot afford the time to attend extra classes.

"We all have a job. It’s not easy for us to enroll in the class again. It’s actually a waste of time" she said.

Lam believed there are also other students facing similar problems and called on them to contact him.

He also called on the CEF to exercise discretion to allow students to at least get part of the subsidy, adding the affected students might otherwise take the matter to the Small Claims Tribunal.