Hong Kong Investment Immigration follows Hong Kong Education updates: September 2nd marked the 'first day of school' for the new academic year in Hong Kong, with over 900,000 students returning to campus. Eddie Ng Hak-kim, Secretary for Education of the Hong Kong SAR Government, stated that the overall traffic and supporting arrangements were quite smooth that day, and the situation at the three border control points handling cross-boundary students was also generally successful, marking a good start.
With the summer vacation over, the scene of parents taking their children to school reappeared that morning. Many school entrances were bustling with activity, and school buses shuttled students to their classes. One Hong Kong primary school student said that although they had to wake up before dawn, they did not feel tired because they were able to go to school.
Taking advantage of the first day of school, Eddie Ng visited a primary school in Tai Po, New Territories, to understand the school's opening situation. This primary school has added two new Primary 1 classes for the new academic year, admitting over 50 cross-boundary students, for whom the school had previously arranged special courses to help them adapt.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Eddie Ng encouraged the students, sharing that his family was not well-off when he was young. He had to learn to take care of himself in primary school, walking 20 to 30 minutes to school every day, and had to travel across districts for secondary school. However, these experiences taught him independence and helped him build physical strength.
Eddie Ng also praised the primary school in Tai Po for admitting cross-boundary students, noting that they had allocated resources and arranged teaching staff in advance to handle the situation.
At a primary school in Fanling, Hong Kong, new measures were also implemented for the new academic year to care for cross-boundary students. The school introduced a direct cross-boundary school bus service to the Fanling campus. To ensure student safety, the school will arrange for teachers to accompany the students on the nanny bus to Lo Wu every day throughout the school year to assist them in crossing the border.
For students, regardless of age, the first day of school is always a new beginning and an important day. On that day, The Chinese University of Hong Kong also held its opening ceremony. Tsang Tsz-kwan, who has been blind and hearing-impaired since childhood and reads by touch, was previously admitted to the university's Department of Translation. She described her feelings about the start of school as complex, noting that it was a new beginning and that she would have to face the changes and challenges of a new life, hoping to spend her university years in a simple and ordinary way.