A kid learns how to cook simple food in an after-school care center operated by a community center of Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. Provided to China Daily

Everyday, thousands of Hong Kong school kids come home to empty apartments, waiting alone for their parents to come home from work. It is illegal to leave children under 12 without supervision. Getting caught can mean heavy penalties. But thousands of low-income families say they have no alternative. The parents need to work long hours on meager wages just to provide life's necessities. Emma Dai reports.

Every morning at 7 o'clock, Ming, a 9-year-old girl, waves goodbye to her mother Lam and heads out on her 20-minute walk to school.

Lam, a newcomer from the mainland in her mid thirties, is struggling to make ends meet. She works at a seafood store in Mong Kok, 12 hours a day. She has no time to take Ming to school or pick her up at the end of the day.

Every afternoon, the form-3 student comes home at three and remains alone for about five hours or so. The apartment where they live is so narrow, and there is no room for a sofa or desk.Ming sits on the bed to do her homework. When she's finished, she turns on the small TV in the corner and waits until 8 or 9 o'clock for her Mum to bring dinner home.

With Lam's salary and Ming's subsidy from Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), the family income amounts only to about HK$6,000 a month, far below the median of HK$13,500 for a two-person household in Hong Kong.

"It's hardly enough to cover basic needs," Lam said. "Housing bites half of the income. Food and other supplies cost more than HK$2,000. Besides, I have to send a sum near HK$1,000 to my husband and son (living in Guangdong) on a monthly basis."

A group of parents and their children protest outside the Central Government Offices on July 16, urging the government to bring child care and tutorial classes to all primary schools. Provided to China Daily

"I have to work," Lam said. "We already live a pale life, eating the cheapest meals, enjoying no entertainment and avoiding every unnecessary spending. I can't even afford books for my daughter, let alone the extra money for after-school care."

This is not an isolated case. Ming, who lives in Mong Kok, is one of the tens of thousands of latchkey children in Hong Kong, remaining unattended at home after school because their parents are too busy earning a living and too poor to hire nannies or pay for half-day child-care services.

The Commission on Poverty says there are around 200,000 people below 18 living in households with incomes below the average CSSA payment, which is de facto "poverty line" for the city. According to the Social Welfare Department (SWD), there were about 120,000 people below 18 receiving CSSA in 2009.

It can be dangerous to leave children alone at home. While some get along well on their own, others just can't manage it. Apart from creating a mess in the apartment and injuring themselves, they may also pose a threat to the safety of neighbours. There have been many accidents related to latchkey children, in recent years, from fire to falling out of windows.

It's also illegal to leave children under 12 unattended in Hong Kong. Parents may face criminal liability. Between 2005 and 2007, police prosecuted 10 parents who left their children alone. Last year nearly 60 cases were reported.

Though from time to time, Ming plays and watches TV instead of getting homework done before late night, she is good to her Mum. "Ming wouldn't cause any trouble usually," Lam said. "But she's still a child, too young to look after herself."

Once Ming left a message that she would hang out with a cousin in LangHam Place, the biggest department store in the region, for a while. She wasn't home when Lam came home at 8.

Children do their homework in an after-school care center operated by a community center of Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. Provided to China Daily

"It was late. I was so worried and looked for her on the streets for about two hours," Lam said. "I almost called the police. Thank God finally she came back."

It is inevitable that a large group of lower-class residents need to work and have no money for private child care. While kindergarten children have multiple low-cost choices, pupils have only the After School Care Programme, the unique solution government funded for kids aged 6 to 12.

The program was launched in 2000 by the SWD and operated by various NGOs, in the hope that parents could be released for work or training.

The government funding quota is 6,000 families. CSSA families or those whose income is below 55 percent of the median household monthly income receive full subsidies. Families having income between 55 to 75 percent of the median can apply for a 50 percent reduction in the fee. Services, availability and fees vary among different NGOs.

"I'd rather blend with others in the center than stay alone at home," said Zeck, a form-5 pupil living in Sham Shui Po. "I've made a lot of friends here." Since his first day in elementary school, five years ago, Zeck has been attending after-school care in a community center of Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong in Shek Kip Mei Estate, one of the oldest public housing neighborhoods in the city.

"When class is over, I come here to do homework," said Zeck. "English is kind of a headache to me. But Miss Chen, our tutor here, will help me with my assignments. There are a lot of books in the center. I read after my assignments are done. Detective and comics are my favorites."

Every night at half past six, Mei, the boy's mother picks him up for dinner. Coming from the mainland in 2004, Mei is now a morning-shift cleaner. As a single mother, she used to work part time in the afternoon.

"When Zeck was about to finish kindergarten, I was so worried that I would not be able to look after him as primary school close early in afternoons," Mei said. "Then I learnt that I can apply for after-school care service. That really helps me a lot."

Many new applications come in summer, the busiest season. Positions become available only when regular users leave, usually for a hometown holiday on the mainland. This year for example, only three out of 12 new applicants were accepted.

On July 16, a group of parents, most of them mothers, protested with their children outside the Central Government Offices. "We request the chief executive and the Education, Labour and Welfare bureaus to push the policy to have child care and tutorial classes in all primary schools," said their petition.

"There's no after-school care program available near us," said Fung, holding a banner in one hand and a stroller in another.

Fung is a housewife and mother of four. Her husband, the only bread winner, works a 12-hour night-shift as a security guard, earning HK$9,000 a month. Raising four children costs the family a great deal. Electricity, water and food expenses all are higher. "We always need to borrow at the end of month," said Fung.

Next year, Fung's youngest son will be in kindergarten and the other three will all be in primary school. "Text books would cost HK$3,000 a head. We need to borrow even more," Fung said. "I want to work, no matter how much I get. But the private service near us charges for HK$2,000 each. I'm jammed at home.

"It was parents who raised the idea of school-based child care," said Sze Lai Shan, the protest organizer and Community Organizer of the Society For Community Organization, an NGO focusing on lower-class families in Sham Shui Po.

"School is safe and familiar to children," Sze said. "Thus parents can be freed, and retired and laid-off teachers can be rehired. There also are job opportunities for cleaners and cooks."

The Society's investigation in July shows 76 percent of primary schools are willing to provide after-school care or tutoring service if there are sufficient resources. Among them 83 percent believe the main obstacle is funds.

"It would need about HK$100,000,000 for the whole city," said Sze. "The money will be worth it, given that more than 100,000 latchkey pupils need care and even if only one in 10 of them were to turn bad, it would be a serious problem."

(HK Edition 08/19/2010 page8)