‘Out of touch to link schooling and vaccination’

The former Federation of Trade Unions legislator Bill Tang has described as “out of touch” a requirement that schools have to reach a 70 percent vaccination rate in order to resume full-day lessons.

He said on Sunday that a survey of about 800 parents conducted by the union showed that class suspension and half-day classes have affected the learning of children amid the pandemic.

Tang also said family income has suffered, with about half of the parents polled saying they had given up their jobs to take care of their children at home.

Almost 80 percent of the respondents said they back the resumption of full-day classes at secondary schools.

Tang said children have the right to attend full-day classes, and the government shouldn’t stop them from doing that for the sake of boosting the vaccination rate.

And ahead of the start of the new academic year, the chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, Lin Chun-pong, said on a radio programme that teachers had been busy working on a flexible timetable over the summer holiday.

He added that while full-day classes can resume for certain grades of pupils if the vaccination rate hits 70 percent, students of other grades will have to stick with half-day lessons, so it’s challenging to try to accommodate to everyone’s needs at the same school.