Advertisement
Coronavirus: Hong Kong schools unlikely to resume full-day classes when new term starts, as many students not yet vaccinated
- Low vaccination rate among teens means schools can’t meet 70 per cent requirement by September 1
- School bus operators worried, as many drivers, nannies don’t want jabs, fearing side effects
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
36
Hong Kong schools are unlikely to be holding full-day sessions when the new term begins on September 1, as almost none have reached the required 70 per cent threshold of vaccinated students and teachers.
Advertisement
Some secondary schools said while most of their teachers and staff had been vaccinated against Covid-19, many students had not, with some still resisting the jabs because of concerns over side effects.
An Education Bureau spokeswoman told the Post on Friday that not a single school had yet applied to resume classes after reaching the vaccination target.
At Scientia Secondary School in Ho Man Tin, principal Wong Ching-yung said that, as of last week, almost all of his 85 teaching staff had received two jabs, compared to just 60 per cent of Form Four to Form Six students and about 50 per cent of those in Form One to Form Three.
“The 70 per cent threshold requires people to be fully vaccinated for 14 days before we can apply for full-day resumption, but we have not yet met that,” Wong said. “From my understanding, many schools are also unable to meet that criterion so far.”
Advertisement
Advertisement