Declining student numbers prompt downsizing plan and subsidy scheme

The Education Bureau is advancing a voluntary program asking that secondary schools cut classes in 2011-12 to address declining enrolment, it was announced Thursday.

The government is offering an annual subsidy of HK$250,000 to schools that join the program - and it made an additional guarantee that teachers affected by the cuts could hold their jobs during a five-year transitional period.

After meeting with senior school officials in the 18 districts to talk about the plan, Secretary for Education Michael Suen said schools will not be forced to participate, adding they actually will need to apply to enter the plan and to receive the annual subsidy. And before that ever takes place, the schools are required to talk to all stakeholders, parents, students and teachers, after which they will have to go to their boards of governors for approval.

Suen stressed: "there is no government policy to shut down secondary schools with insufficient students nor is Hong Kong facing a crisis over closure of schools. What we are trying to do is to redistribute students from the affected districts to other schools and allow them to benefit from the improved learning environment."

In the current school year, as many as 36 secondary schools have only enough students to meet the minimum requirement of three form-one classes. Most of those schools are in Tuen Mun, Sha Tin and Eastern districts.

Education constituency legislator Cheung Man-kwong said the plan is not good for students. Cheung, who is also president of Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, said teachers are worried about job security and will have to wait and see how the new plan affects them.

Cheung expressed concern the plan would generate a negative labeling effect.

"As schools in the same district may have different interests, some are willing to join and some are not," he said. "In that case, a labeling effect will arise such that the joining schools are 'good' schools while those refusing to join are 'not good' schools."

He also questioned why the government did not take the opportunity to reduce class size in secondary schools.

Liu Ah-chuen, chairman of the Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council, supported the government plan, maintaining that it will ease a chronic classroom shortage.

Kwok Wing-keung, chairman of the Association of Secondary School Heads in Tai Po District, also welcomed the plan saying it provides an opportunity for schools to reorganize a curriculum and improve the quality of teaching.

(HK Edition 03/26/2010 page1)