Parents relieved as Hong Kong schools return to full capacity for 1st time in more than 6 months

Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post Posted at May 24 2021 01:57 PM Parents spoke of their relief on Monday as Hong Kong schools and kindergartens returned to full capacity for the first time in more than six months under a relaxation of Covid-19 rules, with about 900,000 pupils welcomed back on campus for half days. "I'm really happy. When I first heard the news about a full resumption I felt like 'finally we can return to school'," said Mable Wong, in her 40s, who has two children at a local primary school in Yau Ma Tei. Another mother, Kelly Tam, said: "With a full capacity resumption, children can return to a relatively normal social life and can move around outside home. "Parents have been under pressure too, having children at home for such a long time. Face-to-face learning is also a lot more efficient." Under the latest relaxation of pandemic control measures, city schools are allowed to have all students back on campus at the same time - up from the previous two-third cap - regardless of whether teachers had undergone regular Covid-19 screening as previously required. Temperature checks are required before entering school grounds, as well as mask wearing and social distancing in classrooms and during activities. Officials maintained the half-day measure to avoid students eating together on school grounds at lunchtime. Some parents agreed it was "not yet time" to resume full-day sessions given those infection risks, even with the Education Bureau affording international schools the opportunity to apply to do so. The French International School and the English Schools Foundation's Discovery College are among those granted approval to resume full-day in-person sessions from Monday. Some local head teachers called the policy unfair, after officials offered the rules exemption to international schools based on their facilities being more suitable for social distancing. At Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road), about 950 students returned on Monday, many accompanied by their parents. The co-educational school had been arranging for students from each year to return for two to three weeks per month under the previous set-up, but could now bring all its pupils every week. Principal Polly Chan Shuk-yee said the school had placed sanitiser dispensers across the campus and was reminding pupils to keep their distance from each other. Earlier, a leading health expert and government adviser suggested allowing full-day sessions - or even a relaxation of mask-wearing rules - in schools at which 70 or 80 per cent of eligible pupils were inoculated, if vaccinations were offered to younger people. The government has been looking at expanding the mass vaccination programme to those aged 12 to 15. But some parents remained hesitant towards vaccination, saying they preferred not to let their children take "extra risks" given the perceived uncertainties of the possible side effects.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more