Hong Kong schools prepare to teach in post-pandemic world: masks while singing, no basketball and recess inside

Students will begin to return to the classroom in a few weeks but in a radically different environment

Under new guidelines, they will be asked to change everything from how they play to how they arrive and leave campus

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Tables are cordoned off at CMA Secondary School in Shek Kip Mei in Hong Kong Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:53pm, 13 May 2020Updated: 10:28am, 14 May 2020

Hong Kong students will have to wear masks while singing during music lessons and maintain social distancing during ball games when they begin to head back to classrooms at the end of the month, according to government guidelines to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.

The suggestions, which were released on Wednesday, also ask students to keep at least a metre apart in classrooms, when lining up for the toilet or waiting at the tuck shop.

Some schools the Post talked to said they would request that students remain in the classroom during recess and take turns going to the toilet in small groups.

Desks have been spaced farther apart at Baptist Rainbow Primary School in Wong Tai Sin. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

As the pandemic eases in the city, education officials last week announced classes would resume on a half-day basis starting from May 27, after a four-month suspension.

Senior secondary students will be the first to head back to school, while junior secondary, primary school and kindergarten graduating class pupils will return in June.