Lack of places in Kowloon and the New Territories

There's a letter in today's SCMP about a perennial problem (Closed catchment area creates discrimination):

We live in the catchment area of King George V School which has, due to overcapacity, been closed to new applicants for two years and will stay that way indefinitely. With all the new developments going up in West Kowloon and Cheung Kwan O in recent years, plus more primary schools becoming part of the English Schools Foundation, it is not difficult to see why KGV has today's bottleneck problem.

The situation, coupled with the current ESF admission policy, unfortunately has Kowloon's applicants downgraded to second class when they knock on the doors of another ESF school. My child is one such victim because a lower status was accorded to her in other catchment areas. She applied early but she still missed out.

She is a category one applicant (high priority), confirmed by the ESF. However, even category two applicants (low priority) were admitted instead of her. So, saying that they treated my child as second class is already an understatement. In effect, they put her under a new category. That is, category three. The population is not going to age overnight. The ESF will for decades continue to effectively discriminate against Kowloon applicants unless it changes its admission policy - treating applicants from school-closed areas equally or rezoning.

Given the subvention, the ESF should realise that I do not pay less tax than those living on Hong Kong Island or in the New Territories. Why should my child be discriminated against?

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

There is undoubtedly a problem with Year 7 places in Kowloon and the New Territories (i.e. KGV & Sha Tin College). The government refused ESF requests to build a new school in the New Territories, and now there is excess demand at both primary and secondary schools. It's more acute in the secondary schools, and as a temporary measure an extra class was added at Sha Tin College. In the longer term, the number of places in years 4, 5 & 6 of the Junior Schools will have to be managed to reduce the demand for Year 7 places.

As so few students drop out, even being on the waiting list is no guarantee that a place will become available, so it is inevitable that there will be arguments about who should get priority.

There has been some limited re-zoning, but the fundamental problem is a shortage of places in ESF schools, and the only way that will be solved is if the government allows expansion of the system - but realistically if it is to happen it will be through the Private Independent School scheme (without any subvention).