PolyU won't punish those who cut classes to join Occupy Central

Students and staff of the Polytechnic University will not be penalised if they join Occupy Central or an expected boycott of classes next month, the university president says.

"Even now, not all students attend their classes," Timothy Tong Wai-cheung said. "What difference will the boycott make?"

Tong was commenting on the possibility that staff or students might absent themselves to join the planned sit-in in Central if Beijing denies Hong Kong genuine universal suffrage for the 2017 chief executive election or join a class boycott for the same reason.

He told a media gathering yesterday that if students missed classes for the boycott, they would be encouraged to get teaching materials from their classmates and catch up with their studies. Teachers should communicate with their directors beforehand so other staff members could be arranged to take over their classes.

"The most important thing is that those who want to have classes cannot be rendered unable to," he said.

The university has also formed a special team to help students arrested during the civil disobedience movement.

The team, headed by the dean of students, would provide those arrested with what they needed, Tong said.