Education Bureau to check with schools on class boycotts but will allow institutions to decide how to deal with planned mass action by Hong Kong students
- Minister Kevin Yeung says authorities will gather information only to get a picture of how boycotts progress but stresses government is opposed to them
- Many universities say they respect students’ freedom of speech but only two promise not to punish those who take part
Hong Kong’s education authorities will check with schools about the number of students and teachers who fail to show up when classes resume next month as guidelines are issued to schools on how to deal with a looming class boycott.
Education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung stressed on Tuesday that the authorities had the responsibility to grasp a general picture of how the boycott campaign was going in schools and would leave it to individual schools to decide if punishment was needed.
The so-called class boycott, co-launched by localist party Demosisto – founded by Occupy activist Joshua Wong Cho-fung – is part of a broader anti-government campaign triggered by the now-shelved extradition bill.
University students are also planning a class boycott, which they hope will force the government into fulfilling anti-government protesters’ demands, including a formal withdrawal of the extradition bill, and the appointment of an independent inquiry into police handling of the protests.
While university students are still finalising the format and duration of their strike, Demosisto called for a class boycott by secondary school students every Monday.
