HK Closes Kindergartens and Primary Schools H1N1

[rani]

A bit of a vent. The schools knew that the Gov't was considering shutting them down. Am annoyed that some schools haven't prepared for the closures.

Have checked a few ESF primary websites, and they are either emailing kids daily activities, or asking parents to pick up work packs. Teachers have been calling students to see how they are managing. Our school hasn't done any of this. You would think there would be some consistency among ESF schools.

 

[Buckeroo]

Our son's school has been good about this... very pro-active in terms of making sure we have activity sheets, etc.

But now that brings me to another question --

Okay, so now the closure has been extended. Fine for those schools whose academic year ends by end of June anyway, but what about those whose academic year runs to the end of July? Are we expected to pay the tuition fee for July as well, seeing as there will NOT be any class in July at all?

I got an email reminder for July tuition last week (probably a "scheduled" send, as they do every month), but this was before the announcement last night about the extension of the closure. I'm waiting to hear from our school today... or failing that, we'll be having a parent-teacher meeting tomorrow and I guess I can ask then. I just don't think it's fair if they expect us to still pay when there won't be any class at all for July, even if they continue to send us activity sheets, etc.

I just want to find out what you think about having to pay for a whole month's tuition when there will be no classes. I do understand that the gov't has asked that the schools remain open in case there are families who could not arrange for proper child care. But, but, but...

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

[HappyV]

Teachers still need to be paid.
The schools still need to be maintained.
The administrative staff (and most teachers) will still be working.
Off course the fees shoud be paid.
You made the decision to send your child to a fee paying school, and this means that you are responsible for keeping the school running - even during a crazy time like this.

 

[shri]

HappyV - So true what you said. Unfortunately, there are many schools where the staff has already put on their grass skirts and broken out the bottles of tequila.

Going back to my long standing problem with the ESF ... we're seeing a huge amount of discrepancy between how the various schools have reacted to this closure. Some schools - the teachers actually seem to be concerned that the kids are missing out on two weeks worth of education and they're taking the initiative to keep in touch via phone / emails and online. Some schools have prepared work packets for the kids / parents so that they can get caught up. And then there is one school which hosted a juggling video from YouTube to make sure that students would not miss school. Speaks volumes of how much they care....

 

[Buckeroo]

HappyV - I understand your perspective on this and I do agree to a certain extent. It's not the school's fault that the gov't decided to suspend classes. However, we're paying to get an "education" for our child/ren, which they will not be getting for a whole month (not even counting these 2 weeks)... that's where I am coming from. Surely, there's some sort of middle ground..?

 

[shri]

Here's a discussion on GeoExpat - to see how various schools are handling the closures.

H1N1 Closure - How are schools handling? - Hong Kong GeoExpat

 

[lesliefu]

most schools should provide "on-line learning materials" for students so that even if there is no "school" school per say, children are still learning and the curriculum set out for students can and will be "taught". as a teacher myself, i know first hand that much MORE time is spend preparing and putting things on the web for students compared to teaching them at school, so the workload is in fact MORE for the teacher in these days....of course if your school is not following up with online work, then I don't know what to say, but for those of us who do put stuff online, it'd really be nice to get paid to do, rather than just do it "voluntarily" - no matter how much I love my job.

 

[HappyV]

If a school is not following through with the government guidelines of preparing either e-learning or learning packets to be picked up, then I do think parents have a right to complain.
Certainly, all the schools I know of have done a huge amount of work in providing worksheets/lesson plans over the net.
Shri - I know you are an administrator, and perhaps feel that you can't say it here, but you've made a lot of comments regarding a particular ESH school. I think I would speak for a few people here when I say "Tell us which one it os, so that we don;t send out kids there!"

 

[rani]

HappyV,

Apparently now that we've moved to PYP, they don't use worksheets anymore. Everything is activity based. Well we didn't even get any ideas/list of activities. Spoke to my son's teacher today, and apparently we were supposed to ASK for more work. #$%%%. This is the 3rd time in 5 years the Gov't has closed schools and I'm sure its not the last. It just annoys me that some schools aren't prepared/proactive as others.

 

[hk1]

Wow I work at a PYP school and we still put packages together for the students and did daily posts with problems, tasks, inquires etc. for the students. Sounds to me like they are using the PYP as an excuse. On the other side of things, as a teacher I was frustrated by how few parents even read the posts let alone had the children look at or complete the work.