Hong Kong education minister urges pupils, parents, staff to get tested for Covid-19 amid contagion fears for the return to school

Kevin Yeung pleads with school community to take part in the voluntary, mass screening exercise to build confidence in the resumption of on-site learning

City pupils will be back on campus later this month, but no date set for when schools will operate full days

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Hong Kong students will return to physical classes this month and the government wants staff, children and parents to undergo Covid-19 testing. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 4:51pm, 5 Sep 2020Updated: 10:08am, 6 Sep 2020

Hong Kong’s education minister has appealed to staff, students and parents to get tested for the coronavirus under the government’s citywide screening scheme to build confidence as tens of thousands of student prepare to return to classrooms for the first time in months.

Physical classes resume in late September for half days, but Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said a date had not yet been set for them to resume on a full-day basis, or for the city’s 27,000 cross-border pupils to head back to campus, despite the improving Covid-19 situation locally.

His plea on Saturday for the school community to engage in testing came a day after he met lawmakers from the pro-government Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, who expressed concern over some principals and staff rejecting the free, voluntary screening programme.

Last week, reports emerged that some principals and teachers preferred to be tested at private clinics due to mistrust of the government.

“This is for the interests of society,” Yeung told a radio show, referring to fears the return to physical classes could trigger a rise in cases. “If staff, students, parents join the testing, it would boost confidence for school resumption. But we will not make it compulsory.”