Hong Kong's Schools Closed Until Jan 2021

This article is part of an editorial series on Covid-19

Closed again. Students at Hong Kong’s local and international schools will return to distance learning until the New Year due to the "worsening situation" of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Education Bureau has said that all campuses must close early ahead of the Christmas break from December 2 for two weeks.

This means that all face-to-face classes and school activities will be suspended until the new year, and schools will return to distance learning programmes for the end of this year.

A spokesman for the EDB said:

"The EDB has earlier discussed with the sector about the related arrangements, and understands that schools would need time to make preparations for face-to-face class suspension, including students' home learning arrangements, Primary 6 internal assessment for the purpose of Secondary School Places Allocation and the learning arrangements for graduate classes."

It is yet another setback for schools and students in Hong Kong, which have faced a turbulent 12 months. First, classes were suspended for up to one week in November 2019 due to protests across Hong Kong. Then, all campuses were closed from the end of January due to Covid-19 and all classes switched to distance learning; they reopened from late May with strict social distancing measures in place, and were then closed again for the start of the new academic year.