Teachers' Testing For Full School Resumption

The government on Wednesday outlined plans for coronavirus testing for teachers and other school staff ahead of the resumption of classes after the Lunar New Year holiday, but the city's largest teachers' union has highlighted the need for pupils to get tested as well.

The Education Bureau said primary and secondary schools, as well as kindergartens and private tutorial schools, could resume their classes in full two weeks after teachers and staff return negative Covid-19 test results.

And they will have to get tested every fortnight going forward.

The bureau said the timeframe was based on experiences it gathered in an earlier testing scheme for teachers and staff.

Schools that comply with the rule will need to seek approval before resuming classes. They will be notified about the details in the upcoming days.

Other schools will be allowed to resume half-day classes with the number of schoolchildren capped at one-third of the student population. That's up from the previous cap of one-sixth.

Responding to the announcement, the Professional Teachers' Union accused the Education Bureau of using full class resumption as a bargaining chip to force teachers into getting tested.

Its vice president, Ip Kin-yuen, said the authorities appeared to be shifting the responsibility – and blame – to schools and teachers.

"The government seems to have failed to provide an adequate reasoning to support the idea of compulsory testing," he said.

"The students themselves can also spread the virus, so if you're just limiting the testing to the teachers, I'm afraid this doesn't serve the purpose."

The union added that teachers are not among the high-risk groups spreading the coronavirus, noting that there is little close contact during face-to-face classes.

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