Hong Kong students confront inner turmoil as normal classes set to resume

By Makii Flauta and Louna Larose

As the Education Bureau announces its plans to allow face-to-face classes beginning late September, students have mixed feelings on returning after adapting to the online learning environment.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, schools have been conducted online since the end of the Chinese New Year Holidays. For Renaissance College, apart from a few weeks in May and June, students and teachers have been stuck at home since the 3rd of February. Following the dwindling number of new cases in Hong Kong, the education minister announced last week that schools would be able to resume half-day, face-to-face classes from September 23 onwards.

While this decision was welcomed by principals and parents, students like Patrick Rangira were not as enthusiastic. Rangira, a Year 11 student, said that he preferred online school to in-person classes as it gave him more flexibility and freedom in managing his time. While many students struggled to adapt to this new form of learning, Rangira has embraced it. “With online learning, I get to make my own schedule. In physical school, I don’t really,” he said.

Patrick Rangira: “I’ll be less productive when school starts, plus my travel time will be much longer.”

Conversely, Angus Yip, another Year 11 student reported that “it was really difficult to cope with online learning at first because unlike physical school we couldn’t easily contact teachers.” He also added that “there are many more distractions at home that make us lose our concentration.” Rangira feels the same: “While online learning has allowed me to focus on my work, there are still distractions at home, so it’s not entirely the best environment to work in.”

When asked whether they were looking forward to the resumption of face-to-face classes, Rangira and Yip had differing opinions. Yip thinks that it is a good thing to return to physical school. According to him, he has “lost lots of motivation” in his studies and wishes everything would go back to normal. Meanwhile, Rangira was not excited at the prospect of resuming classes. “I don’t wanna wake up at 6:30 a.m. again. I really don’t,” Rangira confessed. “I’ll be less productive when school starts, plus my travel time will be much longer.”

To cope with all the new expectations in this school year and the pressure students are facing, Yip said he has tried managing his time better using planning methods. Rangira agrees. “Online learning has taught me to manage my time much more,” he said. He finds it crucial in order to succeed in his studies. However, unlike Yip, Rangira thinks that virtual learning makes it easier to reach out to teachers for help. He said that he found it “more convenient as I am able to respond whenever I am free.”

In spite of varying reactions from students, teachers welcome the news of class resumption. “Provided that it is done safely, I think this will be a positive thing for people’s relationships with others,” said Joel Langley, a Physical Education teacher at RCHK.