Alice Wu

Opinion | Students and schools are being failed by Hong Kong’s shifting Covid-19 goalposts

The government continues to leave students and schools in flux, with changes to the summer break now being followed by stringent new vaccination requirements

Putting the pressure to raise vaccination rates on teachers and students is unfair and ignores the damage being done to children’s mental health and development

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Students leave Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School in Tseung Kwan O on January 20. Secondary schools that want to hold full-day, in-person classes must ensure 90 per cent of students have three Covid-19 vaccinations by November 1. Photo: May Tse

Alice Wu

Published: 6:45am, 5 Sep 2022

Just like that, summer ended almost as quickly as it started for most Hong Kong children. For many families, the two-week summer holiday wasn’t really a break. Rather, it was yet another hectic disruption because “back to school” usually involves a mad dash to get new uniforms and textbooks. For schools, getting classrooms ready and orienting new students means there is no time for teachers to come up for air.

But we had our summer break early, you might say. That’s true. The government moved the summer break up to February this year, without any consideration for the impact that continued, prolonged disruptions and school closures have on the learning, social and emotional development, and health, of our students. They probably thought it was just dates on the calendar.

And so we are back to sticking foreign objects up our noses every morning, with fingers crossed, hoping for the negative RAT results so as to be granted access to school.

For weeks, even before the last school year officially ended, we have been told to brace for an increase in the daily case numbers, with authorities all-too eager to remind us to be prepared for corresponding measures.

02:22

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Now, with schools opening just when citywide daily Covid-19 cases surpassed 10,000, the goalposts have been moved yet again. Under new vaccination requirements, secondary schools are only allowed to hold full-day, face-to-face classes if the rate of students with three Covid-19 vaccinations hits 90 per cent by November 1.

If students want to participant in mask-off extracurricular activities, then schools need to hit the 90 per cent rate by October 1. Primary schools and kindergartens are not allowed to hold full-day classes yet.