Thousands of staff of Hong Kong’s biggest international school group to undergo Covid-19 screening from this week for full resumption of in-person classes
- Move comes after parents’ group demand in a letter to the management that schools start testing all staff regularly for full resumption of classes
- But no date has yet been set to fully start half-day classes at the 22 kindergartens and schools run by the English Schools Foundation
Hong Kong’s biggest international school group will have thousands of its staff undergo regular Covid-19 screening from this week to meet a prerequisite by education authorities to fully resume in-person classes, the Post has learned.
But no exact date has yet been set for the full resumption of half-day classes at the 22 kindergartens and schools run by the English Schools Foundation. Schools which apply to education authorities to fully start classes will have to submit the request three days prior to the proposed date of commencement, according to officials.
ESF has about 3,000 staff members and more than 18,000 students in Hong Kong.
“In ESF, we all share a common desire to have every one of our students back in the classroom every day,” the foundation’s chief executive Belinda Greer said in a letter to staff on Thursday.
The foundation said it would pay for “spit test” kits which would be distributed among teachers through a private vendor to “ensure confidentiality and safeguard personal details”. Teachers would take the virus tests at home every two weeks and bring the kits into school for sample collection.