Studying so far and yet so near

'Stranded' in Shenzhen for more than a year because of the pandemic, thousands of cross-border students have been struggling to keep their campus studies alive with educators' and social workers' help. Li Bingcun reports from Shenzhen.

While the prolonged pandemic has shattered businesses and social life, it has also ruined the school lives of thousands of cross-border students who used to commute daily between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

They're now stuck at home, robbed of the privilege of face-to-face lessons and association with their peers.

The travel restrictions have prevented most of an estimated 27,000 students living in Shenzhen from crossing over to the special administrative region for their studies. Making up nearly 3 percent of Hong Kong's some 875,000 students from kindergarten through secondary school, they've found life hard to cope with without the non-virtual campus experience they used to have.

A group of educators and social workers in Shenzhen and Hong Kong have been moved by the students' plight, assuring them they are not all forgotten.

In November, Alisa Tang — the mother of a Primary Two cross-border student — volunteered to work as an invigilator at four secondary school entrance examinations specially held for cross-border students in Shenzhen.

Her aim was to familiarize herself with the examinations process and help her son to be better equipped in future.

She shared with her child many "useful" tips by getting down to the nitty-gritty of preparing for the English-language, mathematics and Chinese tests.

Despite the travel curbs, Tang's son moved to Hong Kong in October for face-to-face classes, accompanied by his father who had applied to his company to work from home. After completing the mandatory 14-day quarantine, they rented an apartment near the boy's school in Whampoa. But classes had to be suspended again a month later.

Most of cross-border students have stayed behind in Shenzhen, taking online lessons or studying on their own. They are hampered by the inconvenience of securing textbooks, getting onto the internet and taking examinations. Facing the drastic changes in pursuing their education, they've been forced to take a back seat.

Tang hopes to do as much as she can, not only to plan for her son's future, but also to help more students struggling to meet the challenge.

She was invited by the Hong Kong branch of the International Social Service — a major social organization serving cross-border students — to invigilate. So far, its Shenzhen centers have helped Hong Kong schools conduct examinations for more than 1,000 students in the southern Chinese mainland city and offered them regular in-person courses.