Hong Kong schools must weigh benefits against risks
- It may be reasonable for teachers to get tested for Covid-19, but the question remains whether it is too early for pupils to resume full classes
If there is a sensitive issue in anti-Covid-19 measures, it is to be found in the disruption of children’s education. The clamour for schools to reopen and resume face-to-face interaction between pupil and teacher has been at the forefront of wish lists for a return to “normal” life.
It is driven by concerns ranging from educational disadvantage to the childcare duties of working parents. They can result in school learning being resumed, often with misgivings on the part of some, only to be suspended again to fight a new wave of infection, as has happened in Hong Kong.
The issue has come to a head over the coronavirus testing regime for a full return to classes, which has exposed differences and concerns among teachers. An example is the English Schools Foundation, which plans to resume full in-class learning for its 18,000 school and kindergarten students as early as Monday as requested by many parents, instead of up to one-third of students for half a day.
The catch is that to meet an Education Bureau condition, more than 2,600 staff must be tested by this week and regularly from then on. Hundreds have signed an online petition started by a group of parents who want ESF management to reconsider, saying a full return to school would increase children’s risk of exposure.
An internal document for staff says teachers who refuse testing could be placed on unpaid leave and face disciplinary action. According to sources, teachers were not consulted over the plan and some of them believed that if it were about protecting people from Covid-19, screening should cover all on campus, including students.
Professional Teachers’ Union vice-president Ip Kin-yuen says it is debatable whether taking the test is part of teachers’ duties, and it would be unfair to penalise them for refusing.
In abstract principle, dissenters may have a point about consultation and consent. In the real world where tangible benefit of a return to full school learning has to be weighed against unknown risks, it is arguably reasonable to ask teachers to get tested.
It may not mean much but there is no harm in it. The bigger question, with reopening and closing still fresh in the memory, remains whether it is too early for schools to go back.
Meanwhile, thankfully, teachers have now been included in priority groups for vaccination, which could resolve the issue eventually.
