DSEDJ Director Kong Chi Meng said yesterday after a press conference about the registration for the annual 2022 summer activities at the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) that a flight will be put on for around 200 local students in Shanghai to get back to Macau next Wednesday.
Kong said that the bureau received a reply from an airline that it had been approved by Shanghai’s related entity to send a flight to pick up the students in Shanghai and bring them back to Macau, adding that there are over 600 students from Macau studying in Shanghai but some of them may not actually be there as they are master’s degree or Ph.D. candidates.
Kong did not identify the airline.
Kong said that the bureau had sent questionnaires to students from Macau in Shanghai to find out how many of them were willing to come back home, and as of yesterday afternoon it had received around 200 replies. Kong added that more questionnaires were sent last night to confirm the final numbers returning to Macau on June 1.
Kong said that the bureau will discuss the details, such as the transport for the students to get to the airport and if any assistance will be provided by Shanghai schools, with other bureaus in Macau. Kong underlined that the bureau will discuss with the airline about scheduling a flight on another day if there are more students wanting to come back to Macau.
Kong said that the students must present a nucleic acid test (NAT) certificate confirming a negative COVID-19 result before they depart, adding that they will be taken to a designated quarantine hotel in Macau, so that they do not need to reserve a room themselves.
Kong said that the bureau was still discussing the arrangements for the quarantine hotel and ground transport with the related entities.
When a reporter asked about the current novel coronavirus situation in Beijing, Kong replied that he had not received any requests from any students wanting to come back from the nation’s capital to Macau, but promised that the bureau would pay close attention to the situation.
Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Director Kong Chi Meng (left) talks to reporters yesterday about the situation of local students in Shanghai keen to return to Macau, at the bureau in Nam Van. Photo: Yuki Lei
