Talking Points: how can your school prepare for the hot weather coming up?
Sunny Hon, 17, Workers’ Children Secondary School
Schools should set up a station for heat exhaustion when the hot weather arrives. We are always sitting in air-conditioned classrooms, so it’s hard to acclimatise to a 40-degrees-Celsius sunny day when we go outside.
Plus, students should take a five-minute break every half hour during PE lessons to drink water and rest. Those who feel unwell should be taken to a medical room and treated promptly so their condition doesn’t become more serious.
Kok King-ching, 13, Tak Nga Secondary school
School should provide sunscreen so the students are protected from dangerous UV rays.
In addition, any student who gets sunburned should get immediate treatment.
Schools should also offer swimming lessons, because that would be a good way to cool down during hot weather.
Last but not least, the schools should offer protection against mosquitoes, as some of these bugs can carry dangerous diseases.
Yeung Tsz-lee, 16, The YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
Every summer, students get horribly sweaty, because our summer uniforms are not suited to hot weather. Boys have to wear long trousers while girls have to wear long dresses, so we are usually very sticky by the time we arrive at school.
Out of school, people wear cooler clothes to beat the heat, so why can’t schools allow us to do the same? A uniform with shorter trousers and shirts with shorter sleeves, or even no sleeves, would be a really refreshing way to deal with hot weather.
Michael Kwok Pui-hin, 16, Law Ting Pong Secondary School
Global warming is a big concern for all of us. If we use the air-con all summer long, the weather will only get hotter. Therefore, I think my school should prepare a bottle of ice water for each student instead of turning on the air-con. This would save energy and money, and it would also prevent the Earth from becoming an oven at the same time.
So Yuet-yu, 15, Tung Chung Catholic School
I think our school should prepare iced watermelon for the hotter weather. When we’re hot, we want something really cold and watery. Watermelon would help us keep our cool in the ehat and make us less thirsty. I think all of us would be able to focus more on the lesson if we had watermelon on hot days at school.
Kary Cheung, 13, Tak Nga Secondary School
Schools should provide students with ice cream and ice lollies. When it’s so hot and humid, we feel uncomfortable and cannot pay attention in class. But some free ice cream would help us cool off and focus!
Prudence Mak, 13, Tak Nga Secondary School
The most important thing a school can do is to check the air-conditioners work. It is torture to sit in a classroom without air-con for eight hours! It gets so hot, you can’t concentrate and absorb what teachers say.
Christina Ho Cheuk-lam, 16, Tung Chung Catholic School
Our school should schedule a rest after lunch. We could take a 15-minute nap in the classroom and then play games and dance in the hall to celebrate the coming summer. Teachers and students would relieve their stress and be happy because summer is a season full of energy and happiness! Let’s go out to play!
Tang Pui-ying, 16, The YWCA Hieo Tjo Yoeng College.
Cold drinks would be great for both students and teachers, so schools should install a drinks machine in each classroom. This would save students time because they wouldn’t need to walk downstairs and queue up to buy drinks at the tuck shop.
Schools should also have an air-conditoned gym so we can play basketball and football without getting too sweaty.
Cherry Ngan, 17, The YWCA Hieo Tjo Yoeng college
Due to the hot weather, schools could give each student a newly designed water bottle. It would have a spray, so you could lightly mist your face and body to cool down. Furthermore, students should be encouraged to drink more water to prevent heat stroke. This wouldn’t disturb the class or affect the progress of lesson, and it would help students concentrate on what they’re learning.
Sze Jing-ru, 17, The YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
Let’s have a water fight in the playground! Throwing water balloons at each other would help us cool off, plus it would help us bond with our teachers and fellow students. Everyone would look forward to this event.
Cherry Kong, 17, The YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
Schools should buy freezers and provide ice cream. It would help us stay focused in classes _ we wouldn’t want to sleep if we knew we had ice cream coming!
Ho Yuk-hang, 17, The YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
I think my school should provide free bus services for teachers and students who need to walk to school. My school is located up a hill with few bus stops, so most students get sweaty walking up the steep path to school. But if we had a free air-conditioned bus, then we wouldn’t be all sticky and stinky by the time we reached class.
Lee Nga-sze, 16, The YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College
As the weather warms up, maybe schools could start lessons in the evening – say 4pm. That way we won’t melt in the sun. Also, PE classes should be moved to an air-conditioned indoor gym. Finally, my school could provide bus service from Ho Man Tin or To Kwa Wan so we wouldn’t get sweaty taking the long, long staircase or the steep slope to get to school.
Derek Lau, 17, Tung Chung Catholic School
Free cold drinks! It would cool us down and rehydrate us.
Kelly Leung, 15, Tung Chung Catholic School
Schools should encourage us to drink plenty of water even if we don’t feel thirsty. They should also make morning assembly shorter, because standing in the sun for too long can leave us feeling dizzy.
In our next Talking Points, we’ll discuss:
How do you define an unhealthy shopping habit?
We are now accepting your answers for this topic. To take part, email your answer with your name, age, and school, along with a nice, clear selfie (make sure it’s not blurry), to [email protected] by lunchtime on Monday. Don’t forget to include “Talking Points” in the subject line.