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Following is a question by the Hon Li Fung-ying and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (December 2):
Question:
It has been reported that under the impact of Influenza A (H1N1) epidemic, all primary schools and kindergartens in Hong Kong suspended class between June and September this year before the commencement of the new school year, resulting in a substantial reduction in the income of school bus drivers. According to the findings of a survey conducted by the school bus trade in mid-October this year, 30% of the school bus drivers and employees experienced a substantial reduction of 50% in their income between May and August this year, and over 60% of the school bus drivers also indicated that they remained underemployed after the commencement of the new school year in September. There were even school buses being recalled by banks because the bus owners defaulted in repayment of instalments. Some members of the trade have relayed to me that since the outbreak of the influenza epidemic, schools have persistently requested that the hygiene level of school buses be enhanced. At present, the drivers must thoroughly clean their buses three times a day and the related cleaning expenses impose severe hardship on the trade. In the face of the imminent outbreak of the influenza peak season, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the Government will consider adopting short-term measures to provide assistance to such school bus drivers and employees who are facing hardship, so as to help them tide over the difficult times; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether the Government will adopt measures to help the school bus trade when all schools in Hong Kong suspend classes again under the impact of influenza epidemic; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that the authorities stated in July this year that they would provide again an additional one-off grant of $3,000 to each secondary school, primary school and kindergarten in Hong Kong to subsidise them for purchasing epidemic-prevention equipment and necessities, whether the Government will consider the proposal of the school bus trade and provide a grant for purchasing cleaning items to each non-franchised public bus which has been granted approval by the Transport Department to provide student service; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Financial Secretary announced a package of relief measures in May 2009 to provide assistance to those sectors that are most seriously affected by the Human Swine Influenza (HSI) epidemic. These measures include waiver of business registration fee, waiver of the licensing fees for student service vehicles, as well as waiver of passenger service licences and passenger service licence certificates for private buses used for student service. The waiving of the various fees for one year would provide appropriate support to the school bus sector. In fact, after commencement of the 2009/10 school year, no school has been advised to suspend classes due to HSI outbreak since mid October.
(b) The Education Bureau (EDB) takes the students' health as the first and foremost consideration in making a decision on class suspension. Class suspension is a mitigation measure to reduce the chance of HSI transmission among students in schools. In addition, schools can thoroughly clean the school premises during class suspension period to maintain environmental hygiene. For students' health sake, EDB and the Department of Health (DH) will advise individual schools to suspend classes only when situation warrants.
Based on the latest guidelines from the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of DH, for schools having an outbreak of the HSI, CHP would investigate the situation and advise the schools concerned on whether there is a need to suspend classes. Normally, the period of class suspension would last for 7 days.
According to DH, Hong Kong may be hit again by HSI in the winter season. The Government will closely monitor the development of the epidemic and consider the need of adopting appropriate measures having regard to the impact of the epidemic on the Hong Kong economy and different business sectors.
(c) At present, schools are registered in accordance with the Education Ordinance and monitored by EDB. EDB will provide different forms of subsidies to eligible schools and ensure the proper use of these resources. Having considered the spread of HSI, EDB has earlier provided a one-off additional grant of $3,000 to each school twice for purchasing equipment and materials to prevent communicable diseases, such as thermometers, masks and cleansing materials etc., in order to facilitate schools to adopt appropriate mitigation measures to reduce the spread of the HSI in the school campus and maintain a hygienic environment for the conduct of learning and other activities in schools.
As for school bus services which belong tso private business under commercial operation, they do not fall within the ambit of the Government's direct subsidies. As such, the Government would not disburse a grant to school bus service providers and other commercial organisations providing services to schools for procurement of cleansing stuff.
Ends/Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:07
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