More than half of the secondary schools in Hong Kong have only 44 days of full-time school for 2 years. How long will the library and gym be closed under the epidemic?

The new school year has just started. This year is the third school year since the outbreak of the epidemic. A large number of students are still affected.

Starting from November, full-day face-to-face teaching in middle schools will be tightened to 90% of students receiving 3 doses of the vaccine. In addition, the government has also lowered the minimum applicable age for vaccine passes from the current 12 years old to 5 years old, which has aroused the concern of parents.

The following statistics show the number of days that students have been affected in classes and various places since the epidemic. What kind of campus and daily life are the next generation of students under the epidemic?

Taking secondary school students as an example, there are about 493 school days from January 2020 to August 2022. In the past two years, all students in Hong Kong have only 44 days to return to school as usual, including January 2020 and the end of May to July 2020. the beginning of the month.

The rest of the time includes 131 days of online classes and 318 days of half-day classes.

Among them, during the 318-day half-day class arrangement, middle schools that meet the vaccination requirements are allowed to apply for resumption of full-day face-to-face classes from the last school year, accounting for about half of the days.

Data from the Education Bureau as of August 2 shows that in the last school year, 79 secondary schools in Hong Kong applied for full-time classes at some levels, and 163 secondary schools applied for full-time classes in the whole school, accounting for about half of the total number of secondary schools in Hong Kong, which means that there are still 200 students. Many schools maintain half-day classes.

In addition, all primary schools and kindergartens in Hong Kong will maintain half-day face-to-face classes.

Students are relaxed to participate in most out-of-classroom activities subject to vaccination requirements

Currently, all students in Hong Kong do not need to be vaccinated in class, but if individual secondary schools meet the vaccination requirements, they can apply for resumption of face-to-face teaching for individual classes or for the whole school.

In addition, students can participate in activities outside the classroom, but activities that require the removal of masks, such as playing musical instruments, football, basketball, land games or water games, etc., must meet the vaccination requirements.

Chief Executive Li Jiachao met reporters before the Executive Council on September 6, calling on the elderly and children to be vaccinated.

He said that the encouragement method the government has been adopting remains unchanged. After vaccination, citizens' lives can return to normal and convenient. On the contrary, those who have not been vaccinated will not have such convenience.

Recreational venues have been closed for several days under several waves of epidemics

According to the recommendations of UNICEF and the World Health Organization, children should have at least 1 hour of free play time per day, children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 should have at least 1 hour per day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, and at least 3 hours per week. days of high-intensity aerobic exercise.

Several waves of epidemics have affected the activities of children and young people. Libraries, sports venues, theme parks, theaters and other places have been closed for a long time intermittently, and reopened in May this year.

However, people over the age of 12 must meet the vaccine pass to enter the premises, and the covered age will be reduced to 5 years old on September 30.

How many normal school days are there for students during the epidemic?

From January 2020 to August 2022, there are only about 40 days for all secondary school students in Hong Kong to return to school as usual. For details, see here...

How many schools have applied to resume full-time face-to-face classes in the 2021/22 school year due to compliance with vaccination requirements?

According to the Education Bureau, as of August 2, 2022, 242 secondary schools in Hong Kong have applied for part-level or full-day classes in the whole school. For details, see here... 

Reduced classes | 67 classes were reduced in the new school year, Tuen Mun reduced 9 classes into the hardest-hit area, 37 schools opened only 1 class, and the primary school reduced by 150 permanent teaching posts in one year, and 3 hard-hit areas in the New Territories have this in common. The average loss of 7 teachers per school is still hiring 1 day before the start of the school