Yesterday, a misreport by TDM on schools closing because of inclement rainy weather, led both TDM and the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) to receive hundreds of complaints about students arriving late and wet to school.
The DSEJ announced yesterday, during a press conference, that the incident was in fact the result of a joint exercise conducted by five governmental departments, namely the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG), the Public Security Police Force (PSP), the Transport Bureau, the police force at the border gate, and the DSEJ, along with four media sources and seven schools.
According to Leong Lai, director of DSEJ, on March 11 all involved parties were informed of the time the exercise was to run. Notices of school closures were dispatched at 6:30 a.m., one hour after the beginning of the exercise. However, the said notice was only supposed to reach the groups involved in the exercise, as Lai explained. As a result, complaints surfaced when parents got the ‘news’, and, further exacerbating the misunderstanding, the DSEJ’s official website went down following high user traffic between 7 and 8 a.m.
Wong Kin Mou, head of the department of research and education resources, said that 560,000 visitors tried to access the website within that one-hour.
“Normally, our website welcomes 600,000 visitors per day,” informed Wong, who admitted that the webpage is not capable of handling such traffic spikes and, therefore, the department will move to upgrade it.
When questioned about a picture which surfaced online alluding to the school closures, which claimed to be from the DSEJ, Wong replied that “the DSEJ currently uses its website, its application and messages simultaneously to inform students about any developments.” The education authority stated that the picture did not belong to the DSEJ.
According to Leong Vai Kei, head of the department of education, 70 schools, upon having been informed of the news, contacted the DSEJ. “I, personally, received calls and messages from principals asking about it,” said Leong.
Pui Ching Middle School believed the news to be authentic after the information was spread among the students’ parents. Ultimately, students were sent texts not to come to school, and then the students received another message informing them that classes would resume because it was only a training activity.
“We saw the news at around 7 o’clock in the morning, which is when students are preparing to leave for school, and, besides, the DSEJ website was not working,” said Kou Kam Fai, principal of Pui Ching Middle School. With respect to late students, Kou acknowledged that none would be penalized as a result of the mistake. Staff reporter
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