Hong Kong schoolchildren living in mainland China unlikely to return to class when face-to-face teaching resumes next week

Education Bureau reveals preliminary plan to accommodate needs of 27,000 pupils living across the border

Proposal includes partial reopening of Lok Ma Chau crossing, but gives no date leaving some principals disappointed

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Students will begin returning to class at most Hong Kong schools next Wednesday, but those living across the border are likely to have to wait a little longer. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 10:30am, 21 May 2020Updated: 10:30am, 21 May 2020

More than 2,000 senior secondary school students living in mainland China are expected to be among the first batch of pupils allowed to return to school in Hong Kong without needing to quarantine, the Education Bureau has revealed.

But the government’s preliminary plan, which it released on Wednesday, gives no timescale for that to happen, meaning children are unlikely to be able to return alongside their local classmates on May 27.

“As class resumption arrangements involve various areas including immigration control of the two places, epidemic prevention and control policies and transportation arrangements, we will continue to coordinate with different parties,”a spokesman for the bureau said.

“As a number of the fine implementation details have yet to be finalised, it is expected that the new arrangement will not come into effect on May 27.”

Veronica Yau Kit-ying, principal of Fanling Kau Yan College, is disappointed that not all her pupils will be able to return at the same time. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Under the proposals, the Lok Ma Chau border point, which has been closed since early February to contain the spread of Covid-19, would also be reopened, but only to allow cross-border pupils to travel to Hong Kong for school.