​Following is a question by the Hon Ken Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (January 28):
 
Question:
 
     It is learnt that among residents affected by the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, quite a number of them are students and academic staff members. On supporting the affected teachers and students, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the current number of students and academic staff members who have been identified and registered as persons affected by the aforesaid fire incident, with a breakdown by (i) school type, (ii) students (by grade level), and (iii) academic staff members;
 
(2) whether it will provide long-term psychological counselling and emotional support services for disaster-affected teachers and students, instead of providing one-off support measures; if so, how long the follow-up period is expected to be; if not, how the authorities will help them recover from the trauma;
 
(3) among the disaster-affected families, of the number of students with special educational needs; whether it will consider providing schools with additional resources and targeted support measures, such as by arranging professional support staff or providing learning guidance, so as to prevent the learning progress of these students from being affected;
 
(4) given that the school premises of Tai Po Baptist Public School (TPBPS) have to be closed temporarily due to the fire incident, during which TPBPS students have to attend classes by grade level at the school premises of the other two primary schools, of the measures put in place by the authorities to support TPBPS in coping with the increase in administrative manpower and workload as a result of the separation of school premises; and
 
(5) as it is learnt that many disaster-affected families have been arranged to stay in temporary accommodation such as transitional housing in other districts, resulting in children of such families having to travel a long distance to attend schools in other districts, whether the authorities will consider providing transport services by school bus or disbursing additional travel allowances to them; whether a special mechanism will be established to allow parents from these families to apply for in-year admissions for their children and have them received education in the areas of residence according to their wishes?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     After the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the Education Bureau (EDB) had immediately contacted the school heads associations in Tai Po and the schools near Wang Fuk Court, and sent educational psychologists and officers of the Tai Po District School Development Section to the temporary shelters in Tai Po to offer appropriate support to the affected students. The EDB has also been maintaining contact with schools in the Tai Po District and closely monitoring the situation of their teachers and students so as to provide assistance as necessary.
 
     In consultation with relevant government departments, our consolidated reply to the questions raised by the Hon Ken Wong is as follows:
 
(1) to (3) According to the information provided by the schools to the EDB, there are more than 370 kindergarten, primary and secondary students in total living at Wang Fuk Court. The EDB does not have relevant figures on the number of school staff living at Wang Fuk Court and the number of students with special educational needs (SEN) of the affected families of the fire incident. Regarding post-secondary institutions, over 80 students and more than 50 staff in total have been affected.
 
     After the incident, the EDB has formed the Tai Po District School Crisis Management Team to maintain close contact with the school heads associations and schools in the district and to provide them with necessary assistance and support services on a continual basis. To support the affected schools to cope with the incident, the EDB has promptly disbursed $100,000 to each primary and secondary school (including special schools) and $50,000 to each kindergarten in the Tai Po District under the Special Incident Assistance Grant. Schools may flexibly deploy the grant to provide students, school staff and parents with appropriate assistance, which includes providing psychological counselling services and purchasing learning-related items for the affected students.
 
     Apart from providing subsidies to the affected schools, the EDB has made available to kindergartens, primary and secondary schools across the territory a crisis management resource kit tailored for the fire incident, the contents of which include counselling suggestions for schools and parents, special class period materials, and Questions & Answers for reference, enabling school personnel and parents to assist students in coping with the incident as soon as possible. In addition, the EDB has specifically prepared counselling suggestions for students with autism and related needs who are directly or indirectly affected by the fire incident. In particular, resources for students with SEN are accompanied by narration to help them understand the contents more easily. Since trauma may have a longer-term impact on students, the EDB has prepared trauma-informed resources to assist schools and parents in understanding how students are affected by the traumatic experience, and to advise on suitable ways of supporting students who have experienced trauma, with a view to enhancing their sense of security and resilience and thus facilitating their recovery. We have also consolidated information on community support services tailored for the fire incident. All of these resources are available on the EDB's "School Crisis Management" webpage. Meanwhile, the EDB has contacted the counsellors of the "Teachers' Helpline" (Tel: 8100 3361) to step up telephone counselling and support for the affected teachers and principals.
 
     To provide targeted support for the most-affected schools, the EDB has mobilised its school-based professional support staff and educational psychologists to form dedicated support teams, one for each of those schools, to maintain close contact with the schools and provide them with immediate, on-site and targeted support services, having regard to the specific circumstances and needs of each school. Such services include assisting schools in resuming operations during the transition, making learning and teaching adaptation arrangements, and providing emotional support for teachers and students. The teams will continue to assess the impact of the incident on students and teachers, with a view to providing appropriate professional support and making referral arrangements.
 
     Moreover, the EDB organised 12 online seminars on psychological support for special incidents between November and December 2025 for territory-wide participation. Various speakers including psychiatrists, educational/clinical psychologists and university professors were invited to share their professional insights at the seminars, in a bid to help the school personnel and parents understand the post-trauma physiological and psychological responses commonly found among students and their emotional needs, and learn some coping and support strategies. Professionals of schools (including school-based educational psychologists, school social workers and student guidance personnel) will closely monitor the learning, social and emotional needs of their students and provide appropriate assistance and support in a timely manner. The EDB will also maintain close liaison with schools to ensure that the affected students (including those with SEN) are provided with appropriate long-term emotional support. 
 
     As for post-secondary institutions, they took the initiative to contact the affected students and staff on the day of the fire and actively provided support, including flexible study and work arrangements, psychological counselling services and emergency accommodation. The salient points are as follows:
 
(1) Establishment of communication channels: Affected students and staff who need assistance may directly contact the respective student affairs offices or the human resources offices of their institutions;

(2) Psychological counselling services: As the incident may bring emotional distress, post-secondary institutions have maintained emotional support service hotlines and arranged for counsellors of their student affairs offices to provide the affected students and staff with psychological counselling and support. Those in need were arranged to meet with counsellors or referred to specialist services for follow-up;

(3) Flexible study and work arrangements: Some institutions adopted flexible teaching and work arrangements upon consideration of the local traffic conditions and the actual circumstances of their students and staff; and

(4) Emergency accommodation support: Emergency accommodation arrangements were provided for students and staff in need.
 
     In terms of resources, the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities may flexibly deploy the recurrent grants which have been disbursed in the form of block grants to support students in need. Moreover, the UGC has been supporting the universities to promote mental health and positive education as well as strengthen various student support services for students, including psychological counselling and mental health support. As for assisting students with SEN or a history of mental health issues, the UGC has further allocated additional resources to the UGC-funded universities in the 2025-2028 triennium by providing an additional $90 million under the Special Grant to Enhance the Support for Students with SEN for universities to improve the educational experience of students with SEN, enhance staff training and promote an inclusive campus, thereby benefitting all students with SEN. Meanwhile, institutions have rendered assistance to the affected students by, among others, offering special examination arrangements or deadline extensions for assignment submissions. All post-secondary institutions will continue to follow up on the situation of the affected teachers and students regularly, and keep reviewing feasible options to provide more support at different levels.
 
(4) As the school premises of the Tai Po Baptist Public School (TPBPS) will remain closed for a certain period due to the fire at Wang Fuk Court, the EDB has been maintaining close communication with the TPBPS and providing continuous support. In order to facilitate early resumption of the normal teaching routine of the TPBPS, the EDB has co-ordinated with schools in the district to deploy available classrooms and resources are promptly devoted to completing the modification works. These efforts have enabled the TPBPS to resume face-to-face classes by grade level at the school premises of the Tai Po Government Primary School and the NTWJWA Christian Remembrance of Grace Primary School respectively as a transitional measure from December 15, 2025, until the end of the current school year. The EDB has set up a dedicated working group and reserved $5 million to provide additional resources for supporting the operation of the aforementioned three schools during the transition period, as well as to offer appropriate learning and teaching support for teachers and students.
 
     To enable all students of the TPBPS to continue their studies in a stable and sustainable learning environment as early as possible and to further safeguard students' well-being, following active discussions between the EDB and relevant government departments, the school premises of the former Church of Christ in China Kei Ching Primary School (originally planned to be converted into an integrated social service complex) will be allocated to the TPBPS for use as its school premises starting from the 2026/27 school year, allowing all classes to resume normal teaching and learning activities at a single school site. The EDB is pressing ahead with the renovation works of the school premises, which will be delivered in accordance with standards applicable to new school premises upon scheduled completion in the summer of 2026. The EDB will continue to maintain close communication with the TPBPS on matters related to the school premises.
 
(5) The Transport Department (TD) has been steering public transport operators to strengthen services by deploying additional vehicles and manpower to support residents affected by the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, who have been admitted into transitional housing in various districts. The public transport arrangements for various transitional housing projects to date are set out below:
 

District	Project	Current public transport services	Additional/ enhanced public transport services
Tai Po	Good House	KMB 72C, 73P, 74E, 75K, 75P and 275R to Tai Po Market, Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong respectively; Green Minibus (GMB) 20B, 20C, 20E, 20G, 20R and 20T to Tai Po Market Station.	Additional Residents' Service (RS) NR540 to and from Good House and Tai Po Market Station, providing service from morning to nighttime daily; Additional shuttle bus service to and from Good House, Tai Po Centre and Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, providing service from morning to nighttime daily.
	Lok Sin Village		Additional shuttle bus service to and from Lok Sin Village and Tai Po Market Station, providing service from morning to nighttime from Mondays to Saturdays; GMB 20B, 20C and 20G services enhanced; KMB 75K service enhanced by three additional vehicles, with last departure from Tai Mei Tuk extended from 11.40pm to 0.05am in the following day.
	Trackside Villas	RS NR50 to and from Trackside Villas and Tai Po Market Station.	NR50 service enhanced.
Yuen Long	CONCORDIA Sheung Yue River	KMB 77K to Sheung Shui Station and Yuen Long Station; Red minibus to Sheung Shui Station and Yuen Long.	Additional RS NR977 to and from CONCORDIA Tsat Sing Kong, CONCORDIA Sheung Yue River and Tai Po Market Station, providing service from morning to nighttime daily; KMB 77K service enhanced by one additional vehicle.
	CONCORDIA Tsat Sing Kong	KMB 54, 77K, 251B and 251M to Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and Tsuen Wan respectively; GMB 608 and 608S to Yuen Long and Kam Sheung Road Station respectively.
	THE STEP	RS NR976 to and from THE STEP and Kam Sheung Road Station; KMB 76K to Long Ping and Sheung Shui; GMB 75 to Yuen Long and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point, 76 to Yuen Long and 78 to Tai Lam Tunnel Toll Plaza and Lok Ma Chau (San Tin); Red minibus to Sheung Shui Station and Yuen Long.	Additional supplementary service of RS NR976 to and from THE STEP and Tai Po Market Station, providing service from morning to nighttime daily.
North District	Pok Oi Sing Ping Village	KMB 79K to Fanling and Sheung Shui Station; GMB 52K to Fanling Station.	KMB 79K service enhanced by one additional vehicle.

 
     For details of franchised bus and GMB services, please refer to the websites of the TD (www.td.gov.hk) and franchised bus operators. The TD will continue to maintain close liaison with the operating organisations of the transitional housing projects concerned and public transport operators to cater for residents' commuting needs.
 
     Meanwhile, the Government has already distributed through schools a special subsidy of $20,000 to each student affected by the Wang Fuk Court fire incident for repurchase of textbooks, stationery, computers, and other learning tools, or for transportation expenses on commuting between temporary accommodation and schools. Regarding school placement assistance, if students affected by the Wang Fuk Court fire incident have to look for other school places elsewhere, the affected parents and students may contact the Regional Education Offices of the EDB under which their residential districts are covered. The EDB will provide the students in need with relevant school placement assistance.
 
     The EDB will continue to maintain close liaison with schools and provide appropriate support.

Ends/Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:20

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