The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed over 4,000 secondary school students between September and October, and found that 52.2 percent of students’ stress index has reached seven or above on a scale of 1 to 10. Hsu Siu-man, HKFYG services coordinator, said that academic stress coupled with the ongoing epidemic leads to the significant increase in students' stress and anxiety levels, and some students are even reluctant to go to school. However, 67.2 percent of the students expressed their wish to return to the campus for face-to-face learning. Hsu encouraged students to embrace the opportunity of on-campus learning while alleviating their stress levels by recognising the stressors. Schools should also adjust their course schedules, and reduce the scope of assessment to ease the burden on students.

Source: The Standard November 05, 2020 08:37 UTC