How are these 5 international schools in Hong Kong adapting to home schooling?
Schools and parents are working together to make the best of a bad situation that has kept pupils at home since February, with no end in sight
“Work from home”: three small words that strike fear into the hearts of parents with school-age children around the world. Hong Kong has the dubious honour of being a world leader in this field. After weathering closures during Sars in 2003 and last year’s protests, Covid-19 has meant the city’s pupils staying at home since February, with no confirmed end in sight.
The HKDSE has been postponed and some international examination bodies are even cancelling their assessments as the situation becomes more grave. Only final-year international school pupils have been granted an exemption by the Education Bureau, permitting them to attend school in small groups to complete assessments essential to their exams. It all makes for a tricky situation, but schools and parents are working together to try and make the best of a bad situation.
Kate Appleton is head of digital content for a magazine publisher in Hong Kong. Her children Sonia, six, and Mira, two, attend Hong Kong International School (HKIS) and Woodland Montessori Repulse Bay playgroup, respectively.
“We were dismayed when the news broke that schools would be closed,” Appleton says. “It’s been tough to see the opening date shift a few times since and to carry on day to day with such a degree of uncertainty. That said, as the virus has spiralled in other parts of the world, we’ve come to appreciate Hong Kong’s swift response.”
Appleton says Mira’s workload is light, given her age, but managing Sonia’s weekly home-learning assignments and taking part in regular small-group video calls with HKIS have created a significant workload, which Appleton and her husband are fitting in each morning before heading to the office, before bedtime, or at weekends.
