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The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) announced that Secondary Three level and above of secondary schools would resume classes on April 22 (Tuesday) as scheduled, whereas classes for other levels of secondary schools, primary and special schools, and kindergartens would be resumed later.
Speaking at a press conference today (April 16), the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, said, "During the class suspension period, I have kept a close eye on the development of atypical pneumonia (AP). After taking into consideration various data, opinions and the fact that AP might continue to affect us for a period of time, I have decided to implement an orderly class resumption in phases."
"Class resumption will begin with Secondary Three and above in secondary schools. Other levels of secondary schools, primary and special schools, and kindergartens will continue to suspend classes for one week and resumption is tentatively scheduled for April 28. For kindergartens whose students are in their early childhood, there should be no problems for them to resume classes later. Parents and the schools can deal with the matter flexibly."
"One of the main reasons for taking forward a blanket class suspension earlier, as I stressed in my previous announcement, is to alleviate parents' anxiety. Class suspension itself will not stop the spread of AP. To prevent infection, personal and environmental hygiene is of paramount importance," Professor Li added.
"With the promotion of various precautionary measures against AP by the Department of Health over the past few weeks, we believe that members of the public are all on high alert to guard against the disease. We are now aware that washing hands frequently, building up good body immunity, wearing facemasks and paying heed to environmental hygiene are effective means to prevent AP."
He pointed out that with those cases involving health care workers and Amoy Gardens excluded, the number of new AP cases in recent days was rather stable. It was likely that AP would exist in Hong Kong for some time. If we were to wait for full containment of the virus, there could be a long period of time before class resumption and students' studies could be affected adversely. We had to adopt a two-pronged approach to cater for students' educational needs on one hand and to take effective precautionary measures on the other.
Professor Li stressed that all schools should make proper preparation for class resumption and EMB would make every effort to support them.
"We will issue to schools tomorrow a comprehensive manual reiterating the various precautionary measures against AP announced earlier, such as the necessity for schools to cleanse their premises on daily basis, and teachers and students to pay heed to personal hygiene. Schools are also reminded that tuckshop, catering, school bus and nanny bus services must maintain health standards to the highest," he said.
"To prepare schools for class resumption, we have gathered some materials to help them guard against AP, including face-masks and thermoscans. We have also asked them to explain to their students personal and campus hygiene-related measures on the first day back to school. While our staff in the Curriculum Development Institute have produced an AP teaching module for teachers' use, I believe some schools will develop their own ones."
In addition, EMB will initiate a school cleansing campaign on April 20, and will call on parents to join forces to help out with school cleansing work.
Professor Li stressed that the concerted efforts and co-operation among schools, students and parents were much needed to make school premises a safe place. Upon class resumption, EMB will demand that schools observe strictly a series of preventive measures against the occurrence of AP on their premises. These measures include:
* Parents have to make sure that students are not feeling unwell before sending them to school, observe whether AP symptoms have developed and check students' body temperature on a daily basis;
* Those staff members/students who have close contact with a confirmed AP patient must undergo home confinement for 10 days before returning to school; and
* Schools should suspend classes for 10 days once a student/staff member is confirmed to have contracted AP.
To support schools to prepare for class resumption, frontline staff from EMB's Regional Education Offices will conduct territory-wide school visits to inspect their hygiene condition and render assistance if necessary. The Bureau will continue to monitor the development of AP closely, and will decide and announce next week the date of class resumption for junior levels of secondary schools, primary and special schools, and kindergartens.
For adult education courses provided by EMB, class resumption will take place on April 22.
End/Wednesday, April 16, 2003
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