School Closures Extended Until Feb 21
Hong Kong’s local and international secondary schools will keep their campuses closed until February 21, the Education Bureau announced today (Jan 28). All local and international schools must continue with distance learning due to the "severe" Covid-19 situation in the city; it was previously hoped that schools would reopen after the Chinese New Year holiday on February 7.
The decision affects all kindergarten, primary and secondary classes at both local and international schools across Hong Kong; all kindergarten and primary schools have been closed since January 14. The government has also extended its Sinovac BioTech vaccination programme to children aged five to 12 years, and the BioNTech jab will be offered from February 16.
From February 24, all teaching and non-teaching staff will need to show proof of having at least the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine before being allowed onto campuses. While the "vaccine bubble" does not apply to students, the EDB is urging students in the relevant age groups to "get vaccinated as soon as possible".
International schools across Hong Kong are once again switching to online learning. Elementary School Principal at American International School, Linda Morrison, says the school is well-prepared for the move.
"At American International School, our key mindset is confidence. Naturally, as we prepared our community to transition to Online School, growing our students’ confidence remained at the forefront of our planning. AIS educators are highly experienced and well prepared to facilitate online learning, given our recent experience. Our talented faculty and strong academic programs help us to design interactive learning opportunities, where students can interact, collaborate, communicate, and cooperate with other students, as a way of keeping online learning engaging, inspiring, and fun.
"After Lunar New Year or whenever it is possible for students to return to campus, we have plans in place to reacquaint our students with face-to-face learning expectations and routines. Once again, our key mindset of confidence will continue to drive our academic and social-emotional learning programs as our students work towards our ESLRs and to coming to school every day. We can’t wait for that!"
