HONG KONG: The Social Welfare Department (SWD) rejected claims that well-off students staying in the city's only private drug rehabilitation boarding school can receive welfare payments.

The remark came after Christian Zheng Sheng College's supervisor Lam Hay-sing claimed that the government agreed by implication in 1995 that students on probation orders, even from rather well-to-do families, may receive welfare payments.

"In 1995, we told the government: 'We run a drug rehabilitation center and you keep sending teens to us. But you don't pay us in return. We are not government-subsidized. Are you having free lunch? How can we manage to survive in the long run?" Lam said during an RTHK radio program yesterday.

He said the government later agreed by implication to give welfare payments to those living in drug rehabilitation centers.

The school in Chi Ma Wan now has about 130 students and more than 90 percent of them live on the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), its principal Alman Chan Siu-cheuk said.

He said most were sent to the school under probation orders.

Lam said even if they are not sent to the college, they may end up in jail or correctional homes.

He said some parents, even those who are wealthy, may question why they do not have to pay a penny for their children's board and lodging fees if the offenders are sent to jail but they have to pay if their offspring are sent to the Chi Ma Wan college.

A spokesman for the SWD said people staying in local hostels or boarding schools can apply for CSSA on an individual basis if they have financial difficulties.

But in normal situations, applicants must apply on a household basis.

He said if the student or patient is under 18, his parent or guardian can apply on his behalf. In such cases, the department will examine the family's financial situation and may ask the parent or guardian to declare whether the family can financially support the children, the spokesman said.

He said the department hands out welfare payments to students or patients only if it is confirmed that their families cannot afford the teenagers' expenses.

The spokesman also stressed that the CSSA scheme is to help those in dire economic need and families without financial difficulties should bear their children's living and education expenses.

Lam said the government should review the policy if it finds the practice inappropriate.

(HK Edition 08/21/2009 page1)