Sixteen students from a Hong Kong secondary school opposite the scene of the deadly blaze in Tai Po have received financial support, new textbooks and uniforms after losing their homes to the fire, their principal said last week.
Cheng Sze-wang, head of Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School, added that the students in need were offered counselling, while all dictations and assessments had been suspended to avoid putting extra pressure on them.
The school is just a 10-minute walk from Wang Fuk Court, the scene of an inferno last month that claimed at least 159 lives. Many of the school’s classroom windows directly face the estate.
“Most of [the affected students] are now living in their friends’ and relatives’ homes, and prefer living in the district as they find transitional housing [in other places] too far away for them,” Cheng said.
“Some parents have already rented private housing for a temporary stay. [The students] now go to school as normal and have no big problem.”
He added that vendors had moved quickly to resolve the loss of students’ textbooks and uniforms to the fire, while families had received financial support from authorities and NGOs.
School management, staff and alumni also came together to raise funds for the affected students.
Cheng said his school had called parents one by one to understand each student’s emotional needs.
“Most of the students in class had watched the fire rage as [many of] our classroom windows directly face Wang Fuk Court,” he said. “Students had different levels of emotional needs, and some told us or wrote about their feelings. Our teachers and social workers counselled them.”
Cheng said the school had already asked teachers to suspend dictations and tests as the fire had affected many students emotionally, impacting their studies.
“If there are any dictation and tests they have to handle, it will put more pressure on them,” he said.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Hong Kong education authorities urged schools last Thursday to seek a consensus with pupils and parents on whether to cancel Christmas celebrations. The clarification followed a letter sent the previous week asking schools to mourn the victims of the fire and suspend celebratory activities from November 29 to December 1. It did not specifically ask schools to cancel Christmas events.
One social media platform was flooded with messages from students who said they found it unnecessary to suspend all school activities as they had spent a lot of time preparing and had been looking forward to the annual events.
“Everyone deserves to move on in their daily life, people can feel relaxed and happy after joining such activities while we all still help those affected by the fire,” one user posted.
Some also complained about student activities being cancelled while the Legislative Council election would go ahead as scheduled.
