Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) officials said yesterday when taking part in a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM, that there will “soon” be “good news” for non-tertiary schools.
DSEDJ Non-Tertiary Education Department Chief Wong Ka Ki said that class resumption and lifting mandatory quarantine were not correlated. He said that even though now cross-border students can “freely” enter or leave Macau and Zhuhai, his bureau still needed to pay close attention to the number of people moving between the two cities in order to decide on the in-person class resumption date.
When asked by a caller about the requirements for non-tertiary education classes to resume, Wong said that it also depended on the novel coronavirus pandemic situation. He underlined that after the third city-wide nucleic acid testing drive, the bureau immediately contacted the Health Bureau (SSM) about the possibility of resuming classes. He also pointed out that the bureau has been in touch with schools to ensure that they are well-prepared for when in-class teaching resumes.
Wong pointed out that if the students could not attend classes due to COVID-19 pandemic control and prevention measures, the schools should not consider them absent without excuse. He also added that if due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation the city needs to suspend classes again, Wong promised that his bureau would launch “better policies” for students. He did not elaborate.
Wong also said that as schools know their students the best, they should make suitable arrangements or reschedule some of their exams tailored to their students’ needs.
When a resident phoned in and complained that teachers were not prepared for online classes, DSEDJ Curriculum Development and Assessment Department Chief Cheang Sek Kit said that the bureau had already launched a “smart school platform” to support and train teachers. He added that on the platform, teachers can voice their concerns and problems, adding that the platform can also be accessed wherever the teachers are.
Another caller said that hackers had been entering parents’ group chats, so the caller was worried about internet safety. Cheang pointed out that especially during online classes, parents and students often use social media to communicate with teachers, and therefore the bureau has launched a “notification service” that could verify group members identities in order to ensure online security.
“Non-tertiary” education refers to pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, while “tertiary” denotes higher education such as colleges and universities.
Education and Youth Development Bureau’s (DSEDJ) Non-Tertiary Education Department Chief Wong Ka Ki (right) and DSEDJ Curriculum Development and Assessment Department Chief Cheang Sek Kit attend a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM, yesterday. Photo courtesy of TDM
