Kenneth Lau
Friday, August 29, 2014
Scores of kindergarten students are still without school places, four months after the closure of Topkids Anglo-Chinese Kindergarten in Tin Shui Wai.
The kindergarten was shut in April, despite the principal offering to pay double the rent, or HK$ 460,000 per month.
Topkids then asked to be relocated to Tin Shing Court, a Link REIT property in Tin Shui Wai, but the Education Bureau is still considering its request.
As a result, Sara Cheung Mei-ping said yesterday she and scores of other mothers are still looking for kindergarten places for their children.
Cheung has two boys, the older of whom was a Topkids K2 whole-day student but who has transferred to another kindergarten in Tin Shui Wai, where he does half days.
Her younger son also lost his nursery class place in April and, despite visiting more than 10 kindergartens, she has been unable to find a place for him.
She believes that around 100 nursery students are facing the same problem.
Kindergartens usually accept children from their own nursery classes and not from others, Cheung said.
Since she is unable to find a place for her youngest son, she has quit her job to look after him, severely reducing the family income.
Cheung said she is disappointed with the education system and criticized the government for failing to handle the situation.
A spokesman for the bureau said applications for the Ting Shin Court premises closed on July 7. A selection committee is now sifting through the applications and the process may take several months.
Separately, the Tsuen Wan Wisdom (Anglo-Chinese) Kindergarten is expected to reduce its class size because part of its site was sold to another sponsoring body for a new kindergarten.
A mother, surnamed Kwok, said some parents are affected because their children were transferred to half-day classes even though they were attending full-day sessions.
Hong Kong Kindergarten Association president Mary Tong Siu-fun said rents at most kindergartens have increased by around 20 percent.
She fears that sponsors with a lot of capital will soon monopolize the market.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=148904&sid=42888670&con_type=1
