Opinion | As Hong Kong’s busy children return to schools, time to rethink the point of education

Hong Kong’s schools are set to reopen on a phased basis in a week or so. That is good news indeed, especially for parents, who have had to shoulder more responsibilities with their children learning from home. In addition to a perhaps new-found appreciation for teachers, Hongkongers can breathe a sigh of relief now that we seem to have Covid-19 under control.

Understandably, some educators and parents are worried that students – especially those in critical years who have academic qualification tests to take and scores to worry about – not being able to catch up.

It has been the norm for Hong Kong students to spend almost every waking hour engaged in the task of joyless learning – at school, at tuition centres, and at home with homework. We are a city obsessed with “winning at the starting line”. With the focus on training our students to stay ahead of every curve, falling behind is not an option.

Parents would pay whatever they can afford to make sure their children beat everyone else’s. And all this begins at a ridiculously young age – there are interview coaching classes for little ones who really should be playing full-time. But what seemed to be preparing our students for the cutthroat competition of the “real world” has unfortunate repercussions.

Study after study has pointed to the obvious: that our students are in distress. By 2015, the rise in student suicides had alarmed even our lawmakers, prompting a special education panel and legislators to suggest that schools put greater emphasis on non-academic achievements.

This fact – that our children are not OK – is not news. It’s tragic and remains a problem. Our education system has its share of problems. The liberal studies curriculum, for instance, has been blamed for supposedly playing a role in Hong Kong’s months-long protests. But that is a topic for another day.