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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, at a media session after officiating at the inaugural event of the Executive MBA Programme of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business today (August 31):
Reporter: People Power is staging a slow drive protest in Central tomorrow. Will classes be suspended in Central and Western District?
Secretary for Education: I look at it from two angles. The first one is, this is the first day of the new semester for almost over one million students in Hong Kong if you counted kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and not to mention universities and Vocational Training Council programmes as well. Over one million students are looking forward to the first day of going back to school. If there is any artificial blockage or barrier in terms of chaos in traffic, that would be extremely disruptive on the first day or the first month of the new semester for the students. This is the first one. The second one is, I am also concerned about the impact or potential risks on the safety of students. Once they get on the public transportation or the school buses and so on, if there is a severe traffic jam, then parents would be extremely worried as to where the kids are. It might be chaotic... students are on their way but not sure when they will reach the schools. That is the safety issue. More importantly, as I said this is the first school day and first month of the new semester, everybody carries a very positive spirit in studying. Please don't destroy this kind of exciting first day of schooling.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, August 31, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:30
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