Day school suspension amid limited rainfall leaves Hong Kong parents furious
In a WhatsApp group with more than 1,000 parents, furious comments started flooding in at around 7.30am to complain about the decision.
'There is not a drop of rain. Due to class suspension, I still have to take special leave to take care of my children,' a parent, who was only identified as HT, said.
'No rain in the morning! I am so angry. My children study in private schools; it costs me every day. I can hardly understand why the government could not decide to suspend classes in the morning like in the past, but a day earlier,' another parent replied.
Their angry comments followed an announcement on Thursday by the steering committee on handling extreme weather, which is led by Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, the city's No 2 official.
'To ensure the safety of students, and considering that schools across Hong Kong may have already started their summer vacation and the actual impact of class suspension on students' learning and teaching is relatively small, the Education Bureau announces that classes of all day schools, including secondary schools, primary schools, special schools, kindergartens, and kindergartens-cum-child care centres, will be suspended [on Friday],' the committee said in the press release that day.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong leader vows to ‘consider all things' for future extreme weather prep
Hong Kong's leader has pledged to 'take all things into consideration' for future extreme weather preparations after parents criticised last week's decision to suspend day schools over concerns about a rainstorm that subsided quicker than expected. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday defended the decision by Eric Chan Kwok-ki, the city's No 2 official and chair of the steering committee on handling extreme weather, and said such preparatory actions were 'absolutely correct'. Last Thursday, the committee decided to suspend all day schools for the following day as some forecasts warned the city faced its 'fifth-largest daily rainfall' on record amid the impact of storm Danas. In the past, such announcements were typically made on the morning of the suspension. But the weather on Friday morning was calm, with limited rainfall, prompting backlash from parents who said the suspension had forced their children to miss out on their graduation ceremonies and other school events. '[We] heard different opinions from the society concerning the steering committee's decision on suspending classes,' Lee told reporters ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday.
HKFP
17 hours ago
- HKFP
Ex-Hong Kong Observatory director defends class cancellations 18 hours ahead amid rainstorm forecast
A former director of the Hong Kong Observatory has defended the government's decision last week to cancel classes pre-emptively, saying that the move reflected 'respect for people's lives.' In an interview with Commercial Radio on Monday, Lam Chiu-ying commented on the Education Bureau's announcement on Thursday – when the red rainstorm warning was issued – to suspend all classes the following day. The announcement was made just before noon on Thursday, around 18 hours before a school day would begin on Friday. However, the Observatory recorded almost no rain on Friday, sparking criticism that the government had jumped the gun. Lam, who was the Observatory's director from 2003 to 2009, said he observed that the current government administration has been putting more work into disaster prevention compared to previous administrations. He said there had also been significant progress in coordination across government departments compared to his time as the Observatory's head. 'I think the decision showed respect for people's lives. This really is about how you weigh the importance of safety and other stuff,' Lam added in Cantonese. Asked how he felt when it turned out to be good weather on Friday, Lam said this reflected that 'things were unpredictable' and that 'humans cannot conquer nature.' 'Better safe than sorry' Hong Kong saw the red rainstorm warning issued three times within the span of 24 hours from late Wednesday to Thursday amid the impact of Storm Danas. Danas had lashed China prior to that, with torrential monsoon rain causing deadly landslides and flash floods. At noon on Friday, Chief Secretary Eric Chan – who heads the government's committee on handling extreme weather – stood by the decision to suspend classes 18 hours ahead of time. In a lengthy Facebook post, he said the Observatory's analysis predicted a daily rainfall exceeding 390 millimetres on Thursday and Friday. The figure would be the fifth-highest daily rainfall on record in Hong Kong, or about one-sixth of the city's total rainfall in one year. He acknowledged the difficulty of forecasting rainfall compared to storms and that there was a risk of inaccuracy when making early warnings. But the government's responsibility was to protect lives, he said, adding that disruption to the public would be minimal because many schools were already starting summer holidays. 'So we decided to make an early warning… we believe it is better to be safe than sorry,' Chan said, adding that doing so would minimise chaos at the last minute. In the comments on Chan's post, some called the decision to cancel school so far in advance rash. It caused disappointment for students who were looking forward to their graduation ceremonies and other school-wide events, they said.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Rain, thunderstorms persist in Hong Kong, but weather to improve next week
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP's journalism by subscribing . New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. Rain and thunderstorms will continue to affect Hong Kong on Saturday, the city's forecaster has said, adding that the weather is set to improve early next week. The Hong Kong Observatory said sunny intervals were expected in the afternoon, noting that squally thunderstorms and showers, which would be heavy in some areas, were brought by an active southwest monsoon. 'With an anticyclone aloft strengthening, the weather will improve over the coast of Guangdong early to midweek next week,' it said. 'It will be very hot during the day and there will also be a few showers. The anticyclone aloft is expected to weaken in the latter part of next week.' According to the latest nine-day forecast, there will be a few showers with sunny periods between Sunday and next Wednesday.
