Hong Kong kindergartens run by ESF to resume face-to-face classes ahead of schedule following U-turn by authorities
- Pupils to return to classrooms at five ESF kindergartens on Wednesday, with original plan for gradual return of children in May scrapped
- ESF kindergartens previously faced late start to in-person classes due to having different registration from other international counterparts
Five kindergartens run by Hong Kong’s biggest international school group will resume face-to-face classes from Wednesday, six days ahead of schedule, after education authorities amended their previous decision amid complaints of unfair treatment.
The announcement on Tuesday by the English Schools Foundation (ESF) came after parents of pupils at the five kindergartens complained that their children would be forced to wait until May to resume in-person classes.
“ESF has been liaising closely with [the Education Bureau] and we have now secured the permission of our regional education officers to have 100 per cent of children attending face-to-face classes from Wednesday 27th April,” the school group said in a notice to parents.
The ESF kindergartens were previously unable to resume face-to-face classes in mid-April because they had a different registration from their other international counterparts. The five centres teach about 1,500 pupils in total.
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“All previous plans for reconnection sessions and 50 per cent class schedules are now replaced by all children attending school continuously from tomorrow. There will be no online learning provided after today,” the group said.
Earlier this month, the government announced that international and primary schools could return to in-person teaching as early as April 19.
But only one-third of kindergarten pupils will be allowed to return to classrooms from May 3, while another third will start seven days later and the remainder will go back to school on May 16.
The five centres under ESF are registered as kindergartens, with in-person teaching only allowed to start from May 3. But other international counterparts, which are listed as part of their schools’ primary sections, resumed classes in mid-April.
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An ESF spokeswoman confirmed the five kindergartens would resume in-person classes from Wednesday.
In a reply to the Post, the Education Bureau said it would only extend special consideration to kindergartens which could demonstrate a clear connect to the primary section of their parent international or private school, which can only offer a non-local curriculum.
It added that such kindergartens would need provide valid grounds to merit the arrangement, such as having a unique school calendar and clear support from parents for the early resumption of face-to-face classes.
The bureau previously said pre-primary sections attached to international schools would be considered as a single facility, while the staggered arrangements for resuming in-person teaching would apply to all kindergartens, regardless of their curriculum.
Additional reporting by William Yiu
