Secondary school principals sanction Friday class boycotts

Secondary pupils are free to boycott lessons in solidarity with university students fighting for democracy, as long as they apply to their schools with letters of approval signed by their parents, about a dozen principals say.

The principals said they were open to allowing freedom of expression among their charges, with some even earmarking a space to accommodate pupils taking part in the protest.

More than 100 secondary schools are heading for a one-day boycott by pupils tomorrow, when tertiary students will be entering their fifth day of a week-long "strike" in an attempt to make Beijing rethink its restrictive framework for the 2017 chief executive poll. Student activist group Scholarism, which is helping drive the secondary school boycott, will also be staging its own boycott rally on the pavement of Tim Mei Avenue, near the main rally outside government headquarters in Admiralty.

The individual plans underline a political awakening among the young, with pupils setting up school-based political reform concern groups.

In Tai Po, Stephen Leung Ping-ki, principal of Hong Kong Teachers' Association Lee Heng Kwei Secondary School, said pupils must apply for leave with approval letters from their parents. If they wanted to remain on campus while skipping classes, they could stay in an empty classroom or the library, Leung said, adding no applications had been filed.

"We respect different voices," he said. "You cannot ban others from doing something because you don't agree with them."