Education Bureau urges Hong Kong’s headmasters to get students to heed anti-mask law
- In a letter to schools, the bureau says masks should not be worn to schools except for health or religious reasons
- Student groups have called on schoolmates to wear masks ‘indefinitely’
Students should not wear masks in or outside schools unless for religious or health reasons, the Education Bureau told all headmasters on Friday as the government introduced the anti-mask law targeted at protesters.
But soon after the law was announced, student concern groups called on schoolmates to wear masks “indefinitely” in school as a form of non-cooperation movement starting next week. Hundreds of them also wore masks to school on Friday to protest against the new law.
School heads who had a meeting with the bureau’s representatives on Friday expressed concern about the enforcement details, as they expected more students to wear masks to school to protest after the long weekend.
Parents were divided, with some worrying that the new law would put more pressure on their children, while others supported it.
In a letter addressed to schools across the city on Friday, the Education Bureau appealed to principals and supervisors to remind students that under the new anti-mask law, wearing masks in regulated public events or unlawful assemblies would be an offence.