Time to scrap colonial legacy: English Schools Foundation

China Daily Hong Kong Edition

Victor Fung Keung
2012-09-19

Time to scrap colonial legacy: English Schools Foundation

It is a great insult to Hong Kong people that this rotten colonial legacy, the English Schools Foundation (ESF), continues to exist 15 years after Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British.

Adding insult to injury, this monstrous education institution adopts a new admission policy that benefits only the rich and leaves many middle-class Hong Kong Chinese in the lurch. The foundation announced on Sept 13 that if parents purchase a HK$500,000 non-refundable debenture, their children will have top priority in the allocation of place in the 20-odd primary and secondary schools it operates.

In 1967, following the social riots in Hong Kong, the British government enacted the ESF ordinance to lure more British administrators to come to Hong Kong, promising them that their kids’ education would be well-taken care of. Up to now, the ESF still holds to the English GCSE-A level curriculum. (In addition, it started offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme beginning in September 2007).

Why do people so conveniently forget that Hong Kong is no longer a colony? If expatriates working in Hong Kong want their children to receive an international English-speaking education, they should send them to international schools here or schools abroad. The Hong Kong government should stop providing the ESF with a HK$250 million subsidy a year. The subsidy, albeit generous, is wrong.

Due to a skewed and complicated, if not discriminatory, admission system, many local people who want their children to receive a British-style education have no choice but to send their kids overseas. The financial burden on these less well-to-do parents is beyond imagination.

It makes more sense for the government to spend the HK$250 million to educate local children so that one day they will contribute to the prosperity of Hong Kong. Many expatriates’ kids, since they have no attachment to Hong Kong, will build their career path somewhere, far away from Hong Kong.

If expatriates want their children to receive an international education, they should send them to other international schools that are not subsidized. When there is demand, there is always a supply of places. Yes, it’s more expensive than ESF fees, but expatriates can afford the tuition, can’t they? Or, expatriates can consider sending their children to local schools. It is not a bad idea for their sons and daughters to follow the local curriculum and learn Putonghua, because it is plain for everyone to see that China will become an economic powerhouse in the next 10 years. Prospects are bright for expatriates’ kids if they speak Chinese and are familiar with Chinese culture.

The Legislative Council in Hong Kong and the local government are well advised to abolish the controversial ESF. The ESF’s next step could be privatization (i.e., with absolutely no government subsidy). Supporters of the ESF have argued that the Hong Kong government should provide an international education for expatriates’ children, since it claims that Hong Kong is “Asia’s world city”. This is a red herring. Hong Kong, as an international city, offers job opportunities for expatriates in the banking, finance and other sectors. I am sure most expatriates make quite good money working in Hong Kong. They have no right to ask Hong Kong taxpayers to subsidize their kids’ education.

And it is a shame to ask middle-class and lower-class people in Hong Kong to help pay for tuition of rich expatriates’ kids.

Some expatriates also contend that the ESF caters for the children of “transient migrants” who otherwise would not come to Hong Kong and contribute to its economy. Are you kidding me? This is another red herring. I am sure that expatriates look at the pay-packages they get from their prospective employers first in deciding whether they will relocate to Hong Kong. In fact, if they don’t take up the job offers, many local Chinese or mainland Chinese will rise up to the challenge and get the job offers with glee.

Legislators and government officials should not procrastinate. The sensitive policy of asking local people to pay for expatriates’ children’s education should be abolished. Fifteen years after Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, it’s time we scrapped this humiliating colonial education legacy called the English Schools Foundation.

The author is coordinator of the B.S.Sc in financial journalism program at Hong Kong Baptist University.