Students Mark Start Of School Year – From Home

It's a most unusual start to the school year for Hong Kong children.

Instead of going to school and meeting teachers and other students in person, they marked the start of the new academic year on Tuesday by staying at home and attending briefing sessions online amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Tuesday is the first day of online classes for the new school year, and some students spent time greeting their teachers and classmates online.

The Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung, attended an online opening ceremony at the Buddhist Chi King Primary School in Kowloon Bay, where he encouraged students to stay positive despite adversity.

One parent, surnamed Wong, told RTHK that her son is in Primary 4 and attended the opening ceremony for the school year via computer too.

She said unlike in previous years when she bought new shoes for her son before school began, she hasn't forked out this year because face-to-face classes won't resume for a few more weeks.

She also said she was looking forward to her son going back to school as soon as possible so that he can learn more and interact with other people.

Hung Wai-shing, director of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association, told an RTHK radio programme that he welcomed the resumption of face-to-face classes.

Hung, who is also the head of the SKH Tin Shui Wai Ling Oi Primary School, said he thinks it's safe to have half-day classes at first. But he's also worried that schools would have difficulty coming up with a timetable for the shortened session.

The government on Monday announced a phased resumption of classes for kindergartens and primary and secondary schools from September 23.

Hung also said that in order to help the Primary 1 students make their transition, his staff contacted parents and students in August and made short films to introduce the school and the teachers to the students.

Although face-to-face classes haven't resumed, some schools have opened for students who have difficulty with online learning.

One Form 3 student at St Stephen's Church College told RTHK he went back to the campus on Tuesday to hand in his homework and to find out about his timetable.