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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongEducation

Coronavirus: Hong Kong schools to remain closed until after Easter but university entrance exams set to go ahead as planned in March

  • School classes will remain suspended until April 20 at earliest but education chief says university entrance exams will go ahead as planned from March 27
  • Four more coronavirus cases confirmed in city, including Jockey Club member, KFC worker and MTR station attendant

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Pupils will not be back at school in Hong Kong for at least several weeks. Photo: AFP
Chan Ho-him
After being shut for more than three weeks, Hong Kong schools are to remain closed until after Easter even as university entrance exams will go ahead as planned, education officials said on Tuesday, as four more cases of the coronavirus infection were reported, taking the total to 85.

Announcing the further school closure, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said classes at all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools would be suspended until April 20 at the earliest, confirming an earlier Post report.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, classes were first suspended after the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended on February 3. The Education Bureau had already extended the suspension for two more weeks until March 16.

“The World Health Organisation and virologists have already predicted that the epidemic will last for a longer period of time, so further extending the suspension of classes is the safest option,” Yeung said.

Kevin Yeung says hygiene measures will be stepped up for the exams. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Kevin Yeung says hygiene measures will be stepped up for the exams. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

He believed the scenarios faced by students returning to classes and candidates taking the public examinations for universities – the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) – were different.

“For classes, we are talking about 900,000 pupils from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

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