Hong Kong third wave: testing options eyed as Covid-19 leaves some students behind in scramble for secondary school placements

School heads in New Territories have asked education officials to cancel first of three exams as many cross-border students have been unable to take them

About 150 primary schools across the city have been unable to administer the tests due to complications stemming from the pandemic

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Students and teachers at S.K.H. St. James’ Primary School in Wan Chai pray for an easing of the coronavirus situation in Hong Kong as classes resumed in late June. A return to online learning was only about a month away. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 8:10pm, 6 Aug 2020Updated: 8:25pm, 6 Aug 2020

Hong Kong’s education authorities are considering flexible arrangements for the citywide tests that help determine secondary school placements, after about a third of the city’s primary schools were unable to hold one of the necessary assessments amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is understood that some or all of the pupils at about 150 primary schools have yet to take the tests, originally expected to be taken in June by more than 56,000 Primary Five students bound for secondary school next year.

Under Hong Kong’s education system, all senior primary pupils have to undergo three tests that determine their chances of getting into their preferred secondary schools, one at the end of Primary Five, and two others that take place in the middle and end of Primary Six.

Returning to school in Hong Kong has been impossible for many cross-border students given the city’s quarantine requirements and their lack of residences within the city. Photo: Handout

However, as face-to-face classes only resumed for about a month after a four-month suspension, before closing back up due to a third wave of infections, some schools have been unable to complete the tests for all students.

Most cross-border students – Hongkongers living on the mainland with their families – have been unable to take the tests, as returning to the city has been impossible for many due to mandatory quarantine requirements and their lack of Hong Kong residences.