Allan Dyer misrepresents what my book says about Hong Kong being “apolitical” (“Politically apathetic Hong Kong? Voter numbers say otherwise”, November 29 .) The Other Side of the Story points out that out of the 6.5 million adults in Hong Kong, considerably more than half did not vote in 2019. Some were not registered, for various reasons, while others were registered but did not vote. My assertion is a straightforward fact and easily checkable. In an attempt to counter it further, Mr Dyer quotes the turnout for this year’s Election Committee election – absurd, since the book was published last year. Incidentally, I first started writing about the Legislative Council in the late 1980s. I have found that Hong Kong’s three broad political divisions (China-friendly, China-hostile and “I’m not big on local politics”) have remained remarkably consistent over the past 30 years, with the third group being the largest, the quietest and, some might say, the wisest. Nury Vittachi, Causeway Bay Missed flight because of PCR lab mistake On Sunday night, I went to the airport to check in for a 12.15am flight to Los Angeles and discovered I could not board because the laboratory that sent me the full report of my negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test had mistyped my date of birth, which is the password they use, so the report could not be opened. We then discovered that the lab, Health Hope International Medical Laboratory Limited used by the government testing facility at Shek Tong Tsui, closes at 6pm and has no 24-hour helpline, so it was impossible to get any recourse at 11pm on a Sunday night. Why does the report need to be password-protected when it comes to my private mobile phone? Why use a lab that does not have a 24-hour hotline? I had not been worried about not being able to open the report earlier because the negative test results had also been posted on my iAMSmart and eHealth apps. I had also received a text message from the Hong Kong government saying that my “test result is negative”. However, the airline staff pointed out that these apps do not include the name and date of birth, even on the Electronic Testing Record page on iAMSmart that is posted by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. Yet, such details on test results are a requirement now of most governments requiring a PCR test for arrivals. The testing record on iAMSmart has a QR code and I asked the airline staff if perhaps they could scan that to get more complete information and they said they could not. Isn’t it high time these anomalies are addressed? Test results may need to be shown at more institutions and not just for travel. Were these apps not designed so we are able to have all our records electronically held in one place for convenience? Yi Ting Tao, Mid-Levels Half-day school is no proper education All Hong Kong schools should be allowed to return to full-day classes now that the Covid-19 pandemic is under control in the community, with no local infections over the last few weeks. To keep schools safe, pupils and teachers can still be required to wear masks with strict social distancing. Once schools resume a full-day timetable, students can resume their extracurricular activities, such as badminton, playing in the orchestra or swimming. They will have a more delightful and memorable time in school. Also, schools can hire coaches and instructors for these activities, which means more people with an income in these tough times. I think it is time our lives returned to normal. At the height of the pandemic, children were reduced to online lessons at home. Many were unable to keep up and many teachers did not know how to help them. Half-day school is little better – there is simply not enough time for teachers to properly teach their students. Chan Hiu Ying, Tseung Kwan O Half-day school may improve learning Half-day school has been in force in Hong Kong for over one and a half years, thanks to the pandemic. However, many teachers found that they could not cover all of the syllabus in that time, so many schools decided to supplement classes with online lessons. In my view, the resumption of full-day school isn’t necessary. Students in Hong Kong are overstressed . Pre-pandemic, the time they normally spent in school, on extracurricular activities, tutoring classes and travel would occupy two-thirds of the day. That meant that students did not have much leisure time. In contrast, half-day school can provide an opportunity for students to get some school-life balance. Besides, half-day school won’t necessarily affect the quality of the learning. Students can hardly be expected to pay full attention throughout a full day of lessons. Reducing lesson times could actually increase students’ concentration and improve the quality of their learning. Cheung Chong Shing, Tseung Kwan O A Hong Kong wild boar sanctuary? Given the recent news of wild boars roaming urban areas, it may be a good idea to establish a wild boar sanctuary in a country park big enough for them to roam around. In this way, they can feed on food from visitors who must buy it from an authorised stall in the sanctuary or they can choose to feed on whatever food they can find for themselves in the wild. It would be a concept similar to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. H. Hiew, Sheung Shui