Classroom shortages force cuts in number of classes amid influx of pupils
SHIRLEY ZHAOshirley.zhao@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 7:01am
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 7:01am
Five-year-old Angie Ng at an admissions briefing session for St Paul's Co-educational College Primary School. Photo: Edmond So
Some schools in the eight districts which set aside Primary One places for Hong Kong pupils living on the mainland this school year have been forced to slash classes after the influx of mainland children led to a shortage of classrooms.
Primary schools in the eight districts opened a total of 23 new classes this year to cope with cross-border pupils, but for some schools where the number of new pupils outweighed those graduating, the influx led to a classroom shortage. Principals said many schools in the districts were already at capacity last year, when the government enlarged the catchment area for allocating places to cross-border pupils to take in the eight districts.
They said if the number of cross-border children continued to grow, schools would need to increase class sizes from 25 to 30 pupils to cram all the new children into limited classrooms.
They urged the government to further extend the catchment area to more districts.
The latest primary school profiles, released yesterday, show the eight districts have seen 44 Primary One classes cut this school year. The districts are Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, North district, Wong Tai Sin, Tai Po, Ma On Shan, Tsing Yi and Tung Chung.
Yuen Long has seen 13 classes dropped, while Tuen Mun and North district have each cut 11.
Shum Yiu-kwong, chairman of the Tuen Mun District Primary School Heads Association, said many primary schools in the district opened six or seven first-year classes last year, using up all available classrooms, but had to reduce the number this year.
"We have used up all the classrooms," Shum said. "If the number of cross-border pupils keeps increasing next year, we can only expand the size of classes from 25 students per class to 30."
The 127 primary schools in the eight districts set aside 2,612 places for new cross-border children this year. The number of cross-border pupils almost tripled from 9,899 in the 2010-11 school year to 24,990 last year.
Chan Siu-hung, chairman of the North District Headmasters Association, said even schools located in remote villages in the district had used up all their available classroom time. He said the government should spread the intake of cross-border children over more districts.
Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan are touted as possible additions to the catchment area next year. But this would mean long journeys for some cross-border pupils, and schools losing classrooms reserved for emergency uses.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1854789/rush-hong-kong-schools-absorb-commuting-pupils
