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SCMP Reporter

THE E-MAIL FORUM

Q Has the right decision been taken on the reopening of schools?

I am a parent with two young children at school. Between the risk of Sars infection and my children's educational needs, my choice is quite clear, and that is to protect our children until we are sure this vicious virus is under control.

The fact that doctors are still puzzled by the spread of Sars among health-care workers in hospitals (there are similar situations in China, Singapore, Hanoi and Canada) and in housing estates is a clear warning to us to take extra precautions against further spread until the situation is contained.

In a worst-case scenario, even if every school were to forgo the forthcoming examinations and automatically move every pupil up to the next grade, it would be a small price to pay compared with one child contracting Sars and then infecting his or her whole family.

A clear head on this matter must prevail. We do not want to go backwards to deal with this rather unpleasant situation  and we should take the best precautions available in the meantime.

Jason Leo, Wan Chai

We are in a war against Sars. It is a battle on all fronts and we will win eventually. But if we are to get a victory at a low cost, every single sector of society must see it through.

As a frontline teacher, I am not going to comment on whether the reopening of schools is the right decision or not, but rather how schools can make the most out of this catastrophe in the educational sense. The price of a plummeting economy has been paid and scores of lives have been lost.

Life has to go on despite the battle, and so must the education system. Therefore, we should now try to catch up with the syllabuses for classes requiring common assessment in order to progress to further studies - senior forms and Primary Five, for example. For junior forms in secondary schools and primary pupils, a more flexible teaching mode could be introduced.

It would not be a big deal to give up this bit of the formal curriculum and to engage students in a multidisciplinary project on Sars in its stead.

And it would not pose a major threat to the education system to replace the final examinations with a project consisting of continuous assessment of students' ability in applying their language skills, maths skills and other knowledge in collecting, processing and compiling information about Sars.

This would be both advantageous and necessary, for the following reasons:

Our battle against Sars provides us with a good piece of teaching material because our students are going to remember these eventful months for the rest of their lives. I cannot remember anything from the textbooks I studied in my primary school days, yet how the water shortage problem of Hong Kong in the 1970s affected society is as vivid to me as yesterday.

Other than the pedagogical value, a more thorough discussion of Sars under the planned guidance of teachers would provide a catharsis for our students, some of whom may be perplexed and even horrified by what has befallen our society.

This mode of learning and assessing is more flexible. After all, some parents may not allow their children to go to school, which is understandable.

If one family member has a chronic illness, the parents will be more hesitant about sending their kids to school. Some students may need isolation all of a sudden if one of their family members is found to have contracted the virus.

Changes need courage, but a new mindset is needed in times of crisis. We not only want victory with the least price but to wring the most out of the cost.

Martina Chan, Fo Tan

Accusing the government of abdicating responsibility by failing to set a firm date on reopening of kindergartens and primary schools is an irrational act.

Because of the low demands of the curriculum, the education of young children will be hurt to only a small degree in comparison with our teenagers. Thus, the school time that is being lost during the closure will be more than compensated by parents sparing more time to teach their kids.

Facing the new virus is just like the blind leading the blind. No one knows more than anyone else what is going on. Amid this tentative atmosphere our community needs  positive help and information, not an unrealistic request of a date for schools to reopen.

Lau Ka-hoi, Tseung Kwan O

Q Do you know any black spots that need cleaning?

While I applaud the efforts of ordinary Hong Kong citizens in getting behind the cleanup this weekend, I wonder if the government is really committed to a long-term health and environmental strategy? To my mind there are just too many so-called black spots to tackle.

Just last Thursday while I was walking down D'Aguilar Street in Central towards Queen's Road a heavily laden open-air truck went past with its cargo of bloodied cattle heads, horns still attached, and cane baskets of meat offal. As one lane of the already narrow street is closed for roadworks the animal carcasses were  within arm's length. I was stunned to see such a sight in a busy  precinct at 3pm on a weekday. Surely this cannot be considered environmentally hygienic in a city already reeling from a health crisis?

Sadly, it just adds to many other environmental hazards that I've seen here, such as rats the size of cats that scamper around the Central laneways at night and the public toilets at the Big Buddha on Lantau, which my  visitors have rated as the worst in the world.

Is it any wonder that disease-causing viruses are spreading?

L Grady, Jordan



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