The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Face-to-face classes in tuition clubs, students wear biochemical clothes, studios set up book-covered plastic screens, industry advocates subsidies for rent

2020-08-24T05:29:14.171Z


Under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, all walks of life are complaining. With the outbreak of the third wave of the epidemic in early July, tuition centers that had gradually resumed classes must follow the instructions of the Education Bureau to suspend face-to-face classes until further notice. Since the instruction does not cover small tutorial schools and interest classes, some of them will be given face-to-face as usual during the epidemic. Ren Weihao, a spokesperson for the Education Center Alliance, said frankly that the industry is worried about the risk of infection, but in order to maintain a meager livelihood, they choose to continue to open classes. He pointed out that even if the Education Bureau does not provide epidemic prevention guidelines, the industry has taken adequate safety measures. For example, some colleagues arrange for students to wear "biochemical suits", face masks, masks and raincoats to ensure that the risk of transmission is reduced. He pointed out that it is estimated that at least a thousand companies in the industry have closed their businesses. He hopes that the government can provide rental subsidies in the third round of the epidemic prevention fund.


Social News

Written by: Hu Jiaxin

2020-08-24 13:10

Last update date: 2020-08-24 13:11

Under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, all walks of life are complaining. With the outbreak of the third wave of the epidemic in early July, tuition centers that had gradually resumed classes must follow the instructions of the Education Bureau to suspend face-to-face classes until further notice. Since the instruction does not cover small tutorial schools and interest classes, some of them will be given face-to-face as usual during the epidemic.

Ren Weihao, a spokesperson for the Education Center Alliance, said frankly that the industry is worried about the risk of infection, but in order to maintain a meager livelihood, they choose to continue to open classes. He pointed out that even if the Education Bureau does not provide epidemic prevention guidelines, the industry has taken adequate safety measures. For example, some colleagues arrange for students to wear "biochemical suits", face masks, masks and raincoats to ensure that the risk of transmission is reduced. He pointed out that it is estimated that at least a thousand companies in the industry have closed their businesses. He hopes that the government can provide rental subsidies in the third round of the epidemic prevention fund.

Extended reading:

warm-up at the beginning of school, helper nursery, tuition interest class, face-to-face teaching doctor: not ideal but acceptable

Ms. Zhao’s studio has taken adequate measures to prevent the epidemic, laying a barrier similar to "book wrap", and cleaning and disinfecting at all times to ensure the safety of teachers and students. (Photo by Yu Junliang)

Affected by the third wave of the epidemic, the Education Bureau began in mid-July requesting schools, including cram schools, to suspend face-to-face instruction. However, since the directive does not cover small tutorial schools and interest classes, such educational institutions can still choose to open face-to-face instruction.

Ms. Zhao, the person in charge of the studio, said that adequate anti-epidemic measures have been taken in the studio, such as small class teaching. There are only 1 to 2 students in each class. Students must wear masks. Screens similar to "book wrap" are also installed in the studio to prevent the spread of fly Desks and drawing utensils will be disinfected immediately after completion to ensure the safety of teachers and students.

Education Center Alliance spokesperson Ren Weihao said that although the Education Bureau does not provide epidemic prevention guidelines, the industry has also taken adequate safety measures. For example, some colleagues arrange for students to wear "biochemical suits", face masks, masks, gloves and raincoats, and enter the classroom routinely. Heat, step on disinfection of carpets, etc. to ensure that the risk of transmission is reduced.

Ren Weihao, a spokesperson for the Education Center Alliance, said that the operation of tutorial schools is difficult under the epidemic, and it is hoped that the government can provide rent subsidies to the industry in the third round of the epidemic prevention fund. (Profile picture)

The Education Bureau receives 2,600 applications for a subsidy of 40,000 yuan, actually less than 20% can be eligible

The government announced the second round of the Epidemic Prevention and Anti-epidemic Fund in April to provide a lump-sum subsidy of 40,000 yuan to private schools for informal courses, that is, registered tutoring schools. According to the Education Bureau's reply to the "Hong Kong 01" enquiry, more than 2,600 applications were eventually received, that is, about 87% of tuition agencies applied for funding.

But in fact, most of the industry is not eligible to apply. Ren Weihao pointed out that according to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, there are about 14,000 private tutoring houses and education centers, of which about 11,000 do not need to be registered with the Education Bureau, that is, less than 20% can apply for funding.

Business fell to only 10%

Ren Weihao pointed out that although the industry can apply for "employment protection" wage subsidies, the rent problem has not been resolved. He pointed out that the business volume of the entire industry has plummeted to 10% of the previous level, and it has to pay a high rent of more than 10,000 yuan per month, which accounts for half of the expenditure. In the past seven months, almost every cram school has lost an average of more than 400,000 yuan.

He said that excluding education centers, it is conservatively estimated that at least a thousand tutoring clubs have closed their businesses. He hopes that the government can provide about 140,000 yuan in rental subsidies in the third round of the epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic fund, reducing the loss of the industry for about half a year and expanding it. Widen the scope of funding to non-registered small tutorial schools and interest classes.

+4

+3

+2

Regarding the industry's request for "overweight" subsidies, the Education Bureau replied that it is concerned that all industries and their employees may be affected by the epidemic. Therefore, it has launched the "Protected Jobs" program, and private schools or education centers that provide informal courses can also benefit. The bureau continues to point out that the government has just announced the details of the second phase of the "Ensure Employment" program, which provides subsidies to eligible employers to pay employees' wages from September to November 2020.

Warm-up at the beginning of school, helper nursery, tuition interest class, face-to-face teaching doctor: not ideal but acceptable

Under the epidemic, cram schools closed for nearly half a year, looking forward to receiving funding, the industry hopes the government will allow small class teaching

[Training of tutoring clubs] Can’t teach face-to-face as if the industry is closed: no parents want to pay for online tuition

Education Bureau Epidemic Prevention and Anti-epidemic Fund Education

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-08-24

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-02-29T14:03:45.351Z
Life/Entertain 2024-02-23T06:43:09.444Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.