Although students won’t return for a few more weeks, classrooms are cleaned and disinfected on a daily basis at Hon Wah College in Siu Sai Wan. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
It looks extremely unlikely that Hong Kong schools will reopen on April 20, as had been hoped. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has declined to set a date for sending children back to school. As the city braces for a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases, it has become necessary to protect its young residents by not letting them mingle.
Staying at home does not necessarily mean all play and no work, though. Most schools are running interactive online classes for their students. A few of the city’s public libraries opened on March 11, offering limited service. And the sight of students sitting in cafes, deeply absorbed in homework, is back again, the only difference being the surgical masks on their faces.
While the sight of masked young people at work and play could be depressing, there is probably no reason to assume that this will be the new normal in the foreseeable future. Rather, wearing masks to libraries and playgrounds demonstrates people’s wholehearted participation in Hong Kong’s struggle to return to normal life.
It’s time to play at Tseung Kwan O. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
Readers are back in Central Library at Causeway Bay. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
What looks like an empty classroom at Hon Wah College in Siu Sai Wan is in fact an online class in progress. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
The suspension of classes across the city has not stopped these children in Sha Tin from carrying on with their studies. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
Children step out for a breath of fresh air in Tseung Kwan O. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
A middle school teacher, on screen, leads an online class from her home in Sai Wan. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
Masked students study at a coffee shop in Cheung Sha Wan. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
Staying at home means there is more time to play video games. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
