Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, thousands of cross-border students have had to take online classes in Shenzhen and faced a range of problems, such as lack of attention from teachers and missing opportunities to interact with their peers.

On August 7, the secretary for education said the Hong Kong government would discuss with the authorities in Shenzhen and local schools about how to better serve cross-border schoolchildren as the border is expected to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

As a concern group advocating for the welfare of the cross-border schoolchildren, we hope the Education Bureau can inform the public of how many cross-border schoolchildren are enrolled in local schools and how the bureau has supported these families during the pandemic. The bureau must also reach out to the parents and schoolchildren in Shenzhen to learn more about their needs as the pandemic drags on.

In July, Lee Chi Tat Memorial School, a school in the North District, sent a team of teachers to administer internal assessments for secondary school places allocation for its students in Shenzhen. We urge the bureau to work with local schools and the Shenzhen government to take a similar approach and deliver face-to-face lessons to all cross-border schoolchildren in Shenzhen.

How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity. We appeal to the governments in Hong Kong and Shenzhen to ensure the quality of learning for all cross-border schoolchildren who are Hong Kong residents and children of Shenzhen residents.

Langjia Chen and Dilong Cai, Kowloon Tong

NTU leading the way on sustainability efforts

Universities are drivers of innovation and change in terms of action on climate change. As sustainability is a vital issue to our interconnected world, the National Taiwan University (NTU) took the step of becoming the first university in Asia to disinvest from highly polluting industries, and its ratio of sustainable investment grew to about 75 per cent in 2019.

In addition to corporate social responsibility, NTU pledges to reach 50 per cent carbon neutrality by 2028 and to be carbon neutral by 2048.

Nine universities in Taiwan have led efforts to implement sustainability and education initiatives and received National Sustainable Development Awards since 2014. In addition, numerous universities have released sustainability reports to underscore their actions towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Meanwhile, Global Views Monthly magazine has included societal impact as a component in its Taiwan university rankings.

Under the scheme of strategic partnerships, NTU has implemented seed funding with an emphasis on supporting research collaborations on climate action, good health and well-being and sustainable cities and communities. In 2020, a grant of US$420,000 was provided for faculty members to facilitate international collaboration.

To accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, NTU has consistently encouraged faculty members to integrate SDGs into their curriculum. There are about 1,000 sustainability-related courses offered annually on campus. More than 230 experiential learning courses have been delivered, including internships and experimental practices.

As a research-led university, NTU translates research into practice by sharing its findings and groundbreaking results with the local community.

Some of NTU’s research highlights include College of Science studies on sustainable community and development of customised sensors which directly targets SDGs. The project aims to develop a microclimate sensor network and initiates location-based climate action.

Chiungfen Chen, manager, office of international affairs, and Hsiao-Wei Yuan, vice- president for international affairs, National Taiwan University

Sports that glorify violence should go

While your correspondent in “Why the Olympics goes beyond sporting glory: it’s a chance to cheer what unites”(August 1) praised the Tokyo Olympics for bringing people together, some sports seem to glorify violence.

In wrestling, judo, boxing and karate, athletes score by hurting their opponent. I much prefer watching athletes demonstrate skills related to coping with nature or mastering an apparatus. It is good news that karate will not feature in the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Edmond Pang, Fanling

Congratulations due on China’s Olympic success

As an Australian who believes we can be friends with both China and America, I would like to congratulate the Chinese people on their achievements at the Olympic Games (“Tokyo Olympics : China’s gold medal haul hailed despite USA stealing bragging rights”, August 8). I hope our leader sends a congratulatory message to the Chinese leader.

Doug Cliff, New South Wales, Australia

Panic over video games is overblown

I am writing in response to the article, “Chinese newspaper labels gaming ‘spiritual opium’ and calls out Tencent, fanning fears of a crackdown” (August 3).

As a teenager who also enjoys playing video games, I had a mixed reaction to this news. While I can appreciate the need to curb addiction, limiting it to only playing two hours on holidays is ridiculous. Imagine if you are a teenager who just wants to relax one day by playing video games but are only allowed to play for two hours a day in the summer holidays after months of hard work.

Even when I was only seven years old, I played at least four hours a day during the summer holidays.

Tencent has restricted playing time for minors on its flagship game Honour of Kings to one hour on regular days and two hours on public holidays. It would be better to allow people to play an hour in the morning and another at night on regular days and two hours each on holidays. This would force users to take a break.

Finally, there is no conclusive evidence that video games cause physical or mental problems. When televisions first became popular, people stopped using the radio; social media attracted people away from television. Video games are not drugs but merely a new form of entertainment.

Bruce Yau, Tseung Kwan O