As kindergartens, primary and secondary schools will resume classes in phases from 23 September 2020, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) notices that schools will implement appropriate COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures, which may involve the collection of personal data of teachers, staff and students, including the more sensitive health data. In this regard, the PCPD today (23 September) issued the “Guidance for Schools on the Collection and Use of Personal Data of Teachers, Staff and Students during COVID-19 Pandemic” (Guidance) and reminds schools to strike a reasonable balance between safeguarding public health and protecting personal data privacy.

The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, Ms Ada CHUNG, said, “As most students are minors, from a personal data privacy protection perspective, they need more protection.”

The PCPD recommends that schools should only collect necessary and appropriate data which is proportional to the collection purposes when they consider collecting personal data of teachers, staff and students. Schools should also consider adopting a self-reporting system and collecting personal data through questionnaires which provide multiple-choice answers.

The Guidance sets out that personal data collected from teachers, staff and students by schools should only be used for the original purposes that the relevant parties were informed of (such as safeguarding the health of teachers, staff and students) or directly related purposes. The Guidance also sets out the retention period of the data, data security, and the rights of teachers, staff and students to request access to and correction of their personal data.

SOURCE: AUTORITA’ PER LA PROTEZIONE DEI DATI DI HONG KONG – PCPD