Coronavirus: only handful of secondary schools in Hong Kong intend to test all staff and resume full classes after Lunar New Year, poll finds

Overwhelming percentage of principals also worry about practicality of screening rule, survey by Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools finds

But education minister stresses the condition is merely an option available to schools eager to bring all the students back into the classroom

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Most students in Hong Kong have been doing their lessons online since early December due to social-distancing rules. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 11:07pm, 9 Feb 2021Updated: 2:47pm, 10 Feb 2021

Only nine out of nearly 340 Hong Kong secondary schools polled in a survey intend to resume full in-person classes after the Lunar New Year holiday by meeting a government condition that all staff be regularly tested for the coronavirus.

The poll by the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, released on Tuesday, also found nearly 90 per cent of principals were concerned about the practicality of the screening.

Survey results released by the Professional Teachers’ Union last week flagged up similar concerns, with about 90 per cent of about 12,000 educators polled saying the Education Bureau’s plan was unreasonable and would prove ineffective in containing the virus.

Secondary school students have their temperatures checked before entering campus. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The education minister has defended the scheme, arguing it is simply an option for schools seeking to resume full classes, while city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has hinted the government might relax social-distancing measures to allow more pupils to return to school after the holiday.

The bureau announced last week that schools would be allowed to bring up to a third of their student body back to the classroom after the festivities, but all staff would have to undergo Covid-19 tests every two weeks in order for every pupil to return.