About 90pc of Hong Kong secondary schools allowed pupils to join class boycotts during Occupy, study shows

Nearly 90 per cent of secondary schools received requests from pupils wanting to join class boycotts during the 79-day Occupy protests last year, but the movement did not have a long-lasting divisive effect on schools, according to a study released yesterday.

Results of the survey, conducted by research firm Policy 21 in June and July this year and jointly released by the Education Policy Unit of the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, were based on the replies of 131 principals and 1,411 teachers of Form Five and Six pupils from 168 secondary schools.

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According to the findings, 90 per cent of schools allowed pupils to boycott classes for a short time, with the most common forms of action being pupils having group discussions or self-study sessions within school premises. The boycotts were generally short, lasting less than five days.

Principals and teachers considered that about 10 per cent of pupils participated in the Occupy movement and another 10 per cent opposed it. Those who did not join the boycotts attended classes as normal, and schools generally ran smoothly.

On the question of handling issues concerning Occupy, 88.5 per cent of principals felt the most important factor was for schools to remain politically neutral, followed by 81.7 per cent who thought they should take the opportunity to teach pupils to think from multiple perspectives.