'Tutorial Schools Need More Help From Unfair Govt'

An alliance of tutorial schools has accused the government of adopting double standards in ordering the trade to shut down for at least two weeks while other businesses like gyms and cinemas are only required to suspend operations for one.

The Education Centres Union say there’s no basis to suggest that tutorial centres pose a higher risk of spreading the coronavirus than other affected industries, noting that there have only been three Covid-19 infections linked to such classes so far.

A spokesman for the group, Trevor So, said while of course the authorities need to take action to stop the spread of the virus to safeguard students’ health, this can also be achieved by taking the necessary precautions.

“We need to survive. We are not a public school, we are just a business, so we need to run a business with our staff, they also have their family, they need to earn a living”, So said.

He said the sector is confident that classes can continue safely so long as everyone is required to wear masks, facilities are thoroughly disinfected on a regular basis, and class sizes are kept small.

The group says many more tuition centres could close down if there is another prolonged period of enforced closure.

So said around a fifth of the 150 centres it had previously polled have already closed down, and a HK$40,000 government subsidy has done next to nothing.

“It doesn’t help at all because just HK$40,000… it doesn’t help even for one month [of] rents and the salaries… so that’s not helpful at all.”

He urged the government to reach out to the trade to discuss more compensation to help to cope with the mandatory closure.