Editorial | Cautious welcome for any return to school
- Months-long closures have been hugely disruptive for students and their families, and the restart of classes has to be carried out in a measured, gradual manner
With the return to work this week of civil servants and an increasing number of private-sector employees, and the gradual resumption of many activities and services, it is clear Hong Kong has entered a different phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. So long as the city remains on the highest public health alert, a return to normal life can continue.
But there is a key symbolic element of normality that remains unclear, and that is the reopening of schools closed since the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in January. Hopefully it will be clarified as early as today. Closure and reopening of schools is a controversial topic in countries with both serious and less severe outbreaks of Covid-19. In Australia, for example, it has shattered a community consensus, even though state and federal government medical chiefs unanimously advise that it is safe to reopen schools.
School closures have been hugely disruptive for students and their families. Through the upending of the lives of working parents, they also loom as unhelpful to economic recovery. Education is important for a society’s future and the interruption in the routine must end sooner rather than later. The community needs more certainty. From the public health point of view, a positive factor in the back-to-school argument is that those under 18 become infected with Covid-19 at far lower rates than adults and are less likely to spread the disease.
The time is right for clarity on the reopening of schools. The successful carrying out of the secondary school examinations for entry to university is evidence of that.
Granted, relaxation has to be done in a measured, gradual manner. But there is no reason the government should not share more details of its thinking about this with the community as well as with the education sector. It apparently includes a staggered reopening of schools with older students returning by the middle of this month, and perhaps part-time attendance to begin with.
Caution must remain the byword, lest a resurgence of infections, or even a single case involving a teacher or student in a school setting, prompts a halt to or even reversal of the relaxation of restrictions.
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