Hong Kong Needs A Strong ESF

Do we want Hong Kong to be a truly international city? Or do we want it to fade into the mass of cities along the south China coast?

If we want a robust global city we need good English-language schools. We need schools where critical thinking is as important as fact-based learning. Parents know this. International schools and English-medium local schools are short of places while other local schools struggle to fill their classrooms.

English Schools Foundation is a vital part of what makes Hong Kong unique. ESF has almost 16,000 students in more than 20 schools. Its mission is to provide a high-quality affordable English-language education. It allows many non-Cantonese families with children who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford Hong Kong a chance to live here.

There is not another system like ESF anywhere in the world, a large minority-language school system that accepts all eligible students if they can pay and there is a place. Because it is non-selective, ESF is not elite. Yet it still manages to send students to some of the best universities in the world and many of its students later work in Hong Kong. It is, in other words, an extraordinary and under-appreciated institution.

But ESF faces an uncertain future thanks to government policy drift, a policy fuelled by a number of unfortunate myths.

Myth: ESF gets generous government funding. The reality: Per pupil support from the government is actually less than in local schools. Ironically, 30 years ago there was fear that government funding for ESF would be cut to the level of local schools. Now ESF parents would be delighted if our sons and daughters received the same funding as local students. Parents pay $58,100 a year for primary school and $89,250 for secondary school, with higher fees at two independent schools under the Foundation-in other words between the cost for most local schools and the bulk of international schools.


Myth: ESF students are mostly Caucasian expatriates. The reality: Nearly half of ESF students are ethnically Chinese. ESF has students from more than 70 countries, including substantial numbers of Indians, Japanese and Koreans. About three out of every four students are Asian or Eurasian. Nearly 80% of students have at least one parent who holds a permanent Hong Kong ID card.

Myth: ESF teaches a British curriculum, and thus is out of step in our post-colonial city. The reality: ESF no longer offer the British A-Levels but the International Baccalaureate (IB), a rigorous and more globally accepted program.

Unfortunately, ESF fees and government support don't cover the costs of rebuilding and repairing schools. Three of Hong Kong's most venerable schools-Kowloon Junior School, King George V and Island School, are showing their age. Kowloon Junior and Island School will need to be rebuilt while KGV needs repair and expansion. The bill for these three capital projects alone will total over $1.2 billion.

The ESF Board in November decided that parents for the first time will have to help fund ongoing capital projects with a refundable interest-free deposit of $25,000 per student. This won't solve the problem of ESF's aging schools, but it is part of the solution.

Now the Hong Kong government needs to step up. Plans for these three schools have been discussed for more than a decade, with no result.

ESF is an important part of Hong Kong's future. The government found money for its $65 billion high-speed rail link. But this spending shouldn't mean soft infrastructure like schools is short-changed.

Parents are dipping deeper into their pockets to ensure their children's future and that of boys and girls in generations to come. Now we need the government to do its part to preserve this pillar of cosmopolitan Hong Kong.

Source:
壹週刊 03 Dec 2009 (Thursday)

Link:
http://prd7-libwisesearch.wisers.net.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/ws5/tool.do?wp_dispatch=confirm-view&doc-ids=news:25fa^200912031120295(S:67932933)&menu-id=&on-what=selected&from-list&display-style=all&tooldisplay=true

Questions:
1.What is the importance of keeping ESF schools in Hong Kong?
2.What should the government do to facilitate the quality of ESF?