State-of-the-art design scores low marks with principals
It has been like moving to a five-star hotel for the students of SKH Ma On Shan Holy Spirit Primary School. The spacious classrooms in the new school building all have air-conditioners and pre-conditioning air filters, the wide corridors offer beautiful views of To Lo Harbour, and the washrooms even have electric hand-dryers.
The school is among 13 primary schools and eight secondary schools granted the first batch of school buildings built to a new design for the 21st century, known as Y2K schools.
As emphasised in the Architectural Services Department's blueprint, the design is multipurpose, high tech and environmentally friendly. Teachers praise the extra space, in particular the provision of new function rooms that support the more varied learning sought in education reforms.
But they are not finding the schools as user-friendly as they could be. For a start, six floors separate the staff room from the principal's office. Some function rooms are useless as they have no air-conditioning. Teachers also complain that the extra cost of running the schools is diverting funds away from more important teaching resources.
The location of the staff room is a major complaint. Staff on the sixth floor find themselves a long way from the principal's office on the ground floor. Wong Shun-hing, principal of SKH Ma On Shan Holy Spirit Primary School, said: 'School breaks are short and taking the elevator up to the sixth floor normally takes us three to four minutes. Talking to teachers has become difficult.'
Staff rooms have been placed on the top floors because design regulations do not allow students to occupy space more than 24 metres above ground level, according to Senior Education Officer (Planning), Benjamin Yung Po-shu. The Y2K schools located in noisy areas are also saddled with huge electricity bills as two air-conditioners have to be installed in classrooms affected by traffic noise above 65 decibels. Pre-conditioning filters installed to recycle the air and extra electric appliances needed for the more spacious campus result in increased usage and a massive waste of energy, say principals.
Ms Wong said: 'We don't need that many lights in the office. They are wasting lots of money.' The school's monthly electricity expenses are currently over $50,000, five times more than the old campus. Fund-raising activities and sacrificing a portion of the School and Class Grant (SCG) help make up for the increase. IT and mathematics teacher Lam Miu-chi said: 'Since the electricity bill is eating up part of the SCG, we will have fewer financial resources for launching educational projects. In the end, the victims are the students.'
The situation at SKH Ka Fuk Wing Chun Primary School is even worse. Located in one of the noisiest areas of Northern New Territories, the school has to install air-conditioners and pre-conditioning filters in every classroom and activity room. Principal of the school, David Wong Chi-kin, said they have already allocated two-fifths of their SCG for electricity expenses.
Senior education officer (Building) of the Education Department, W K Yang, said the Y2K schools can make use of their Administrative Grant to cover the increase, adding that the Education Department's district offices regularly adjusted the grants according to the needs of individual schools. 'I don't think the rise in electricity expenses is a problem as I believe the Y2K schools will very soon reflect their financial difficulties to the district offices, which will act accordingly.'
Apart from the change of sites, the Y2K primary schools have also switched from bi-sessional to full day schooling. The school cleaners' work loads are made heavier with longer school hours and a larger campus.
Some Y2K schools are also facing individual problems. For instance, the main entrance of SKH Ma On Shan Holy Spirit Primary School is blocked by a new housing estate. Teachers and students have to walk a long way to enter the school from the side entrance. All students must use school buses for lack of public transport in the afternoons. This means students cannot stay behind for extra-curricular activities.
Principals said that around 50 per cent of the construction work had already been completed when they were told that their application for Y2K schools was successful late last year. Sixteen more primary and eight secondary Y2K school premises are scheduled for completion between 2002 and 2005. Mr Yung said the Education Department would inform schools about their new premises as early as possible, so there would be more time for making changes to meet the schools' needs. But he reiterated that changes would only be of a small scale to conform with the standard design.
The first Y2K schools were designed by the Architectural Services Department's Schools Division. But the next design will be open to private architects. Details of a design competition will be released next month, according to Mr Yung.
