2019-2020 is a surreal year for Hong Kong parents. When this academic year first started back in Sept 2019, we were already confronted with mass-scale protests that see daily headlines. The protests concluded its c
ourse (sort of) in Nov 2019. Then the Christmas break and Chinese New Year await and another 1.5 month is lost. From early Feb, we were confronted with the Coronavirus which lasts till today (and has seen no end yet). The school year of 2019-2020 is officially gone.
Thankfully, international school (or the IB schools) will likely reopen on May 20 and public schools will follow suit on May 27 (senior secondary) and June 8 (Primary schools and junior secondary). These dates are subject to change but are widely anticipated. Final exams for some schools will be postponed to July and summer holidays will shorten to only a month. For senior students, many schools are thinking of adding extra lessons over summer just to catch up on the lost progress.
Here are some measures different schools may implement. Perhaps this is what to be expected when school resumes under the new normal.
At Aided Primary School Heads Association, at least 20 masks per students will be distributed. Non-essential lessons may be cancelled. School hours may be shortened to half-day only.
At a Kwai Chung school, students are required to sit 1.2 meters apart. Students entering the classroom are to be disinfected first before entering the room. Another unnamed school will have 30 students in 8 Form Four (grade 10) and Five (grade 11) classes would sit in single rows facing the same direction when classes resume.
