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

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Written by: Hu Jiaxin and Chen Xiwen

2020-08-24 12:34

The third wave of the new crown pneumonia epidemic continues. At the beginning of this month, the Education Bureau announced that all schools and cram schools in Hong Kong must suspend face-to-face classes indefinitely and switch to online teaching. "Hong Kong 01" reporters visited the shopping malls in the three districts last week and found that there were tuition agencies and interest classes that were still teaching face-to-face. A person in charge said frankly that a small number of parents still have needs for face-to-face instruction, such as requesting temporary care of young children, "warming up" for their children before school starts, and avoiding all-day play, etc. They choose face-to-face instruction to support their livelihood when their business has dropped by about 70% to 80%. .

Some infection and infectious disease experts believe that from the perspective of public health, any place has a certain risk of transmission. It is not ideal to maintain face-to-face teaching. Once teachers and students are diagnosed, infection groups can break out, but they understand that there are small tutorial schools and education centers. With the support of the government, there is no inducement to follow the instructions of the bureau. In the case of "buying and selling", parents are advised to impulse the risks they can bear, and tutoring clubs must also take adequate anti-epidemic measures.

Extended reading:

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Ms. Zhao’s studio resumed face-to-face instruction in the middle of the month. She admitted that her business has plummeted by 80% due to the epidemic, and she is currently losing money. (Photo by Yu Junliang)

The third wave of the epidemic began in July. All primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong must suspend activities, ban face-to-face classes, and tutorial clubs must follow. In mid-August, reporters from "Hong Kong 01" went to Sha Tin Shuo Mun Jing End Plaza, Kowloon Tai Kok Tsui West Kowloon, and North Point City Center Shopping Mall to inspect about 60 shops, and found that more than 10% of small tutoring houses, piano rooms, painting classes, etc. Face-to-face classes are held, and Ms. Zhao’s studio is one of them.

School will start soon as soon as the parents see it. I hope that the children will get used to going to class and warm up, rather than having a long-term call in the house.

After completing each class, Ms. Zhao will disinfect the desktop. (Photo by Yu Junliang)

The studio accepts inquiries from parents and hopes that their children will warm up for the start of school

The head of a cram school in the North Point City Center was infected with the virus at the end of July, and a student was diagnosed. Ms. Zhao, whose studio is located in the same shopping mall, said that classes had been closed for two weeks in response to the epidemic and did not resume business until the middle of this month.

She pointed out that she received some enquiries from parents, hoping to arrange for their children to go to class, and also expressed confidence in the hygienic environment of the studio. "When parents see, school will start soon. I hope that the children will get used to going to class and warm up. ."

Zhao said frankly that the studio offers online teaching, but the response was rather cold, with only one or two students enrolling. After opening a studio for six years, she lamented that the epidemic has caused the number of students to drop by 80%. She only teaches 3 to 4 classes a day, with 1 to 2 students in each class, and her income has been reduced accordingly. She lost five months without receiving government funding. In order to maintain basic income, I can only open classes to teach painting.

The person in charge, Mr. Li, said that the tuition agency is a neighbourhood business. Some parents request temporary care of the children and will try their best to help. (Photo by Yu Junliang)

Parents: Young children can't concentrate on the internet　

Another tutorial club in the mall opened for business. Although it was changed to online teaching, the classrooms were open to young children for online learning. The person in charge, Mr. Li, said that the tuition agency is a neighbourhood business, and a small number of parents asked the tutoring agency to temporarily take care of the children, "make time for the time," and had no choice but to help. He emphasized that the staff of the tutorial club only looked after the children and would not teach face to face.

In fact, many heads of tuition centers or education centers agree that there is a risk of "successful recruitment" when opening classes under the epidemic. Chen Sheng, a family-run tutoring club, said that face-to-face classes will inevitably have worries, but the current epidemic is inevitable, and you can only "cook until you bury it and eat it."

The parent Mr. Mai supports face-to-face teaching and enrolls children in Mandarin classes during the summer vacation. He pointed out that he had arranged online classes for children, but it was easy to be distracted when they were at home. Online teaching also lacked interactivity and the learning effect was not as good as expected, so he switched to face-to-face classes.

Another parent, Mrs. Chen, held the opposite view, saying that online teaching is safer and that her four-year-old daughter has become accustomed to learning painting and dancing online during the epidemic. However, she pointed out that the language centers that had enrolled were unwilling to provide online teaching because of lack of equipment. After repeated negotiations, one-to-one face-to-face teaching was arranged. In order to make up for the class, she was forced to ask her daughter to come to class.

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The suspension of face-to-face instruction does not cover small tutorial schools, interest classes, and the Education Bureau has not provided epidemic prevention guidelines

According to the "Education Regulations", any institution, organization or institution, as long as it provides educational courses to 20 or more people on any given day, or an institution that provides education courses to 8 or more people at the same time, must be registered or temporarily registered as a school.

Small tuition clubs that do not meet the above definition of schools do not need to register with the Education Bureau; interest classes such as music, painting, and dancing classes are not classified as educational courses and are not subject to the supervision of the Education Bureau. The Education Bureau replied to inquiries that the instruction to suspend face-to-face classes does not cover the above two categories and only applies to the tutorial centers of registered informal private schools. However, it did not provide guidelines on how to operate such premises.

Ye Jianyuan, a member of the Education Legislative Council, said that there is a gray area in agreeing to the instructions of the bureau, and that cram schools and education centers will continue to teach face-to-face as usual, which is not good for controlling the epidemic. However, he pointed out that the industry has been closed for half a year since February, and its income has been severely hit. He has discussed with the bureau the guidelines on epidemic prevention measures to maintain the small-scale operation of the tutorial school while reducing the risk of transmission; if operation or face-to-face instruction is not allowed, it must be Enough financial support has been provided, but the bureau has never responded, so the industry can only teach in its own way.

There is a certain risk of transmission in any place. It is not ideal to have tuition clubs and interest classes to maintain face-to-face classes, but without the support of the government, there is no inducement to follow the instructions of the bureau, otherwise "stopping by hand", so full prevention measures are being taken The situation is acceptable,

Infection and infectious disease specialist Zeng Qiyin said that young children are less able to take care of themselves and are susceptible to infection, so it is not recommended to go to tutorial schools or interest classes. (Profile picture)

Doctor: Face-to-face instruction is not ideal, but it is acceptable for both parties to bear the risk

Infection and infectious disease specialist Zeng Qiyin believes that from the perspective of public health, any place has a certain risk of transmission, and it is not ideal to maintain face-to-face lectures. Once teachers and students are diagnosed, infection groups can break out. However, he pointed out that compared to places such as restaurants, tutoring houses, as long as teachers and students wear masks, keep a distance of 1.5 meters to 2 meters between students, regularly clean and disinfect, and maintain air circulation, the risk of transmission is actually lower. acceptable.

He explained that he understands the difficulties of small tutorial schools and interest classes. Without the support of the government, there is no inducement to follow the instructions of the bureau. He believes that in the case of "buying and selling", parents and tuition agencies must weigh the risk tolerable. He also does not recommend that parents arrange for their young children to teach in class because they generally have poor self-care ability, low awareness of epidemic prevention and protection, and "will touch their mouths and noses at will" and are vulnerable to infection.

The third wave of the epidemic has shown signs of decline recently, with the number of confirmed cases hovering at more than 20 cases. Zeng Qiyin believes that as long as the foreign domestic helper group and the Kwai Chung terminal group are under control, the national test successfully screens positive cases and isolates them. When it falls to the number of units, it is expected that some of the tuition agency restrictions can be relaxed.

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

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