LettersHow coronavirus crisis could help Hong Kong’s education sector move with the times

The novel coronavirus outbreak has prompted the Hong Kong Education Bureau to shut primary and secondary schools as well as kindergartens, which will not be conducting educational activities until March 2. Many top universities have followed suit, including City University, which announced it would switch to online learning on January 25.

The transition from in-person to online learning, understandably, has not been easy. Information technology teams are working furiously to put together training materials for lecturers and professors on how to deliver classes online; administrators have to update the academic calendar as a result of the transition to online learning, and some students are worried about the lack of teacher-student interaction so crucial for high-quality education.

This also offers an opportunity for the Education Bureau to develop an official online education mechanism for kindergarten, primary and secondary students. Indeed, the bureau announced that “schools should make good use of e-learning, such as providing students with useful learning materials through emails, school websites, e-learning platforms and other effective means.”