1st school day marks by rain & gust; School reopens post-Wang Fuk fire

Today marks the first day of the new school year.

Amid the unstable weather today with the Transport Department urging commuters to set off earlier, many students began the new term without a hitch but some were disrupted by traffic.

At around 7 am, students already thronged the Kowloon Tong Transport Interchange for their first day back to school. But heavier traffic and unsettled weather threw a spanner in the works for some – with students rushing to make it to school on time.

International School Student KRISTY: “We actually had a photo shoot this morning and a lot of students didn’t show up because of the traffic so it was quite difficult.”

Secondary School Student OSCAR: “I slept in late again. The timetable is very… I don’t know. I couldn’t tidy up my timetable and it’s okay. I will adapt more to it.”

Secondary School Student JOLIE: “Because today is the first day and we just chose our class monitors and I just become the class monitor. (Congratulations!) Thank you.”

Secondary 1 Student HARRIS: “I was really excited, so I wanted to sleep even earlier and I could finally have my first day of secondary school.”

Parent BEN LI: “He went to the nursery school before so I think this is not very challenging for him. This is still an adaptation day, so we are still heading there yet.”

For pupils at Tai Po Baptist Public School which was relocated to a new campus at Fu Shin Estate because of the Wang Fuk Court fire, the first day back carried special significance.

This student admits feeling some jitters.

Tai Po Baptist Public School Pastor: “May the Lord bless you.”

The principal says there will be no formal lessons during the first two weeks to help students settle in with dedicated spaces to support students’ emotional well-being.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi attended a school opening ceremony in Sau Mau Ping.

Choi says that including the subject of physical education in primary school assessments will encourage parents and students to place a greater emphasis on all-round development. She adds that the decline in school-age population is a structural issue and the government will help schools address it.

The first day of school was marked by thunderstorms ushered in by the outer rainbands of Tropical Depression Saudel.

This as Saudel is expected to pack more strength as it inches closer to the eastern coast of Guangdong.

The Observatory forecasts the tropical cyclone warning signals could remain in force through the latter part of the week.

The forecaster’s former director Lam Chiu-ying wrote on his social media page, describing Saudel as a “strange” system and he has never seen a tropical cyclone as such throughout 50 years of his meterological career. This as Saudel entered Zhejiang via the East China Sea and weakened gradually but picked up strength again after entering the South China Sea.