EdTalk | Why continued school suspensions will impact less privileged students the most

Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have faced the greatest challenges during school suspension – their needs were unsuited for the overnight switch to remote learning

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Not all children have access to the digital technology required for home schooling during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 2:50pm, 19 Aug 2020Updated: 3:06pm, 19 Aug 2020

2020 has been a difficult year for nearly everyone without the surname Bezos. But in the midst of all these challenges, spare a thought for a generation of students facing unprecedented upheaval during their key developmental years. For those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the continued school closures in Hong Kong is further preventing them from accessing the opportunities enjoyed by their more privileged peers.

The most recent set of Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam results was released earlier this month and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a drop in student attainment compared to the last couple of years. Only 18,752 students achieved the minimum results necessary to apply for one of the 15,000 subsidised places at local universities, 6 per cent less than the previous year’s cohort.

Some commentators have highlighted the benefits of this dip. There will be a lot less competition for university positions this year for those students lucky enough to make the cut. However, as a charity that focuses on supporting students from less privileged backgrounds, the Chatteris Educational Foundation is extremely concerned that these results herald an increase in the education gap between privileged and less privileged students - a gap that is already yawning with only around 7 per cent of children from families below the poverty line ever attaining places at university.

Although there are no statistics released comparing DSE results to the socio-economic background of participants, recent research from the University of Hong Kong has highlighted these concerns. Their eCitizen Education 360 study finds that “sustained online learning aggravated the disadvantage faced by lower [socioeconomic status] students because of inadequate digital access and family support”. Moreover, disadvantaged secondary students were significantly more likely to be stressed about catching up with school work and the long-term negative effect of the school closures, while teachers and school leaders perceived that students from disadvantaged backgrounds were less able to benefit from online learning.

This matches our own experience across the last academic year. From our communication with our partner schools, it has been clear that institutions which cater to less privileged students have faced the greatest challenges from the school suspension period. The needs of the students they support were uniquely unsuited for the overnight switch to remote learning. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often share cramped flats with multiple family members and were unwilling to turn on the camera or speak on audio for online lessons, even if they had access to digital hardware (which was far from guaranteed).

A lot of students struggled to adapt to the new skills and techniques necessary for remote education, especially those with special educational needs. Schools which cater to the 25,000 cross-boundary students who travel from Shenzhen every day suddenly needed to find online learning platforms accessible in mainland China. Anecdotally, a few of our partner schools even reported that they were barely able to contact some students at all across the whole of the closure period.