Parents are concerned at increase in ESF fees Tuition rise hard on families, father says
LIZ GOOCH
Parents expressed concern yesterday after the ESF announced student fees would increase in August.
Annual fees for English Schools Foundation primary students will rise more than 5 per cent to HK$54,300, while secondary school fees will increase almost 3 per cent to HK$85,000.
Glyn Davies, who has two children at ESF secondary schools, said it appeared the money would be put to good use but he said some families, especially those with many children, struggled to afford the tuition.
"There's certainly no let-up as far as parents are concerned with the increased costs of an ESF education," he said.
The chairwoman of the Joint Council of Parent Teacher Associations, Jane Tracy, said that while she thought the rise was fair, parents were concerned about the affordability of ESF schools. "They are concerned about value for money and affordability," she said, adding that parents would be pleased they were getting more information about how their money was being spent.
The latest rise comes after fees were increased from HK$47,300 for primary and HK$78,600 for secondary in 2005-06 to HK$51,500 and HK$82,600 in 2006-07. Before 2005, fees had remained unchanged since 2001-02.
Parents were informed in a letter from chief executive Heather Du Quesnay, which was sent out yesterday and on Thursday.
Ms Du Quesnay said ESF fees still compared favourably to other international schools.
"We need a little more money to ... improve the quality of education and also to attend to our physical infrastructure," she said.
Major buildings projects were planned and building repairs were needed at ESF schools, which cater to more than 12,600 students, Ms Du Quesnay said.
"We don't pretend that these are not significant amounts of money for some parents but in the great scheme of things ... it's not really a huge amount of money for many people, but for some it will be difficult," she said, adding that financial assistance was available.
The letter said reasons for the increase included the need to employ more educational assistants and higher education guidance counsellors, increase investment in Chinese teaching and make funding available to all secondary schools for business manager positions.
However, this failed to satisfy parent Chris Tringham. "I think a lot of parents are willing to pay as long as they're seeing where the money is going," he said. "It's just a concern that every year they will keep increasing the fees."
The increase is subject to approval by the Education and Manpower Bureau.
In March, the ESF announced that parents would have to pay a deposit equivalent to the September fees to confirm their children would return after the summer holidays.
Hong Kong International School will increase fees by 3 per cent for all students in the new academic year, taking fees for Reception One to HK$137,200. Grade 12 fees will increase to HK$157,100.
The Australian International School increased its fees in January. Fees at the Delia School of Canada will remain unchanged in the next academic year, while the German Swiss International School is yet to confirm its charges.
For the record, what I actually said to Liz Gooch was that fee increases will have a big impact on parents with more than one child in ESF schools, and that we want to see an explanation of the ESF budget. I know she was trying to contact Alex Chiu, but it seems that she was not able to reach him in time.
