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Peace Chiu

With a reputation for a caring school community and excellent staff, parents are happy to enrol their children in Father Cucchiara Memorial School in Tsing Yi.
But conditions at the “matchbox-style” school, with concrete spalling due to the construction method used to build the school, are an ongoing problem that the school’s principal and parents want to see prioritised.
Watch: Hong Kong students fear for health and safety issues in rundown school

Year 6 pupil Hazel Lam Hei-tong once witnessed a piece of concrete falling off a wall of the school building after her classmate accidentally hit the wall with a basketball. No one was injured in the incident, but Lam says she and her classmates were “all very frightened”.
“I feel that the classrooms are quite cramped and I am worried that concrete pieces might fall from the ceiling,” she said.
Summer Tsang Hoi-sum, who is also in Year 6, shared her concerns. “Sometimes the projector shakes, and those students sitting below it are worried it might drop.”
Despite numerous close calls with concrete pieces coming loose in and around the school building, principal Cheung Chok-fong said it had been fortunate that no one had been injured. But she wondered if pupils and staff would always be lucky.
Because of its long history, the school has other design flaws and lacks certain facilities, which lead to a plethora of health and learning challenges, such as noise interference.
Hong Kong’s ‘matchbox-style’ school buildings prove a burning issue, raising range of health and safety concerns
Unlike newer schools that have classrooms on only one side, with the other side being the wall, “matchbox-style” schools have classrooms on both sides. This results in mutual noise interference between classrooms.
“We ask teachers to talk softer and the students to lower their voices during discussions. But this goes against the current education philosophy to have students participate and discuss more. But if the students get too excited discussing, they could affect neighbouring classes,” Cheung said.
Outside the classroom, pupils do not get much space to move around and play as the school consists of only one building.
While pupils usually have their physical education lessons at a public basketball court adjacent to the school as most nearby residents do not use it during school hours, the school does not always have access to the court after school.
Even the school’s only sporting facility – an indoor playground – has to double up as a canteen during recess. On rainy days, pupils often end up staying in their classrooms.
If we believe knowledge can change your fate, these students should have better resources to catch up with students from other schools
Principal Cheung Chok Fong
Cheung said that unless the school got a new campus or relocated to another one that was not constructed with salt water or seawater, safety problems would persist at the school, which will be 40 years old next year.
Although the Education Bureau has a relocation scheme, Cheung said she had not applied for it as the only option is to move out of Tsing Yi. The bureau does not have plans to relocate schools in the area as there are currently empty classes in schools there.
Cheung is hoping that Education Bureau can allow for more flexibility in its reprovisioning and redevelopment scheme so the school can continue to serve the pupils of Tsing Yi.
In the short-term, she also hoped the bureau could fix more items in its major repair programme. In the last round, only four of 10 items applied for were approved. Cheung said she was surprised that the item to revamp the building’s exterior was not approved as she had noticed cracks on the exterior, which she believed could be an early sign of concrete spalling.
“Matchbox-style schools are mainly found in public housing estates. For students growing up in such an environment, we really hope they can broaden their horizons. If we believe knowledge can change your fate, these students should have better resources to catch up with students from other schools [with a better background],” she said.


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Focus

Building flaws at crumbling Hong Kong school leave pupils fearing for their safety

Father Cucchiara Memorial School principal Cheung Chok-fong fears that the safety problems will persist unless the school gets a new campus or relocates to another one. Photo: David Wong

Paint has peeled off from pillars is seen at Father Cucchiara Memorial School, Cheung Ching Estate in Tsing Yi. 25MAY16 SCMP/David Wong

Students study at their classroom at Father Cucchiara Memorial School, Cheung Ching Estate in Tsing Yi. 25MAY16 SCMP/David Wong

News

Hong Kong

Education

Concrete falling of the walls, cracks, peeling paint – all because salt water or seawater was used in construction of the building


Building flaws at crumbling Hong Kong school leave pupils fearing for their safety

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Concrete falling of the walls, cracks, peeling paint – all because salt water or seawater was used in construction of the building

Concrete falling of the walls, cracks, peeling paint – all because salt water or seawater was used in construction of the building