SHIRLEY ZHAO SHIRLEY.ZHAO@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 7:00am
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 7:00am
Kowloon City may see the worst shortage of Primary One places in the next school year, at more than 4,000, which could trigger even more acute competition for places at the district’s already highly-sought-after schools.
Across Hong Kong in the next school year there could be a shortfall of almost 10,000 government-funded places, as 59,000 children enter primary schools. But direct-subsidy scheme schools and private schools, which charge higher tuition fees, will provide 9,500 places to cover the shortage.
Kowloon City will have around 3,400 publicly-funded Primary One places available in the next year-17 school year, but over 7,600 children in the district are expected to reach primary school age in that year, leaving the district short of about 4,200 first-year places.
Even after throwing in some 2,000 places from direct-subsidy and private schools, the district will still be around 2,000 places short.
The publicly-funded schools in Kowloon City are highly popular owing to their good reputations. Diocesan Preparatory School, La Salle Primary School and Maryknoll Convent School (Primary Section) are all located in the area.
Chan Siu-hung, a senior educator and former principal of Sheung Shui Wai Chow Public School, said many children in Kowloon City had been allocated to schools in neighbouring districts such as Wong Tai Sin.
“Kowloon City has had some new housing estates built in recent years so the population in the district has been increasing,” said Chan. “Many children may have to go to other districts for primary school, but transportation in Kowloon is much more convenient than in the New Territories.”
The estimates of the numbers for publicly-funded places were calculated using official figures on discretionary places across the city released on Wednesday. Government-funded schools reserve about half of their places every year for discretionary allocation.
Eastern district may also see a shortage, of about 1,200 government-funded places, followed closely by North district which may lack 1,156 such places. There are no direct-subsidy scheme schools or private schools in North district.
Chan said the shortage in North district might mainly affect Hong Kong-born children living on the mainland as schools in the district must ensure local children are given priority.
He said this meant more cross-border children might be allocated to schools in areas farther away.
North district has been dealing with a severe shortage of Primary One places for local children due to an influx of cross-border pupils whose parents prefer schools close to the border. Last year, the government implemented a scheme to set up an independent catchment area consisting of eight districts as far away from the border as Tung Chung that would have places specifically set aside for cross-border children so they would not compete with local ones.
“Just by looking at the figures, I’m a bit worried,” said Chan. “But we will only know the real situation after parents finish applying for Primary One places this month.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1854883/kowloon-city-may-see-worst-shortage-hong-kong
