Educators call for end to wasteful use of resources
Professionals seek more effective implementation amid heavy financial constraints
Educators have accused the government of wasting resources in keeping low-quality government schools and buying places from underperforming private schools.
The Audit Commission raised similar criticisms in a report which noted that the 36 government secondary schools were much more costly to run than their aided counterparts because their staff were employed on civil service terms and enjoyed better fringe benefits.
The average cost of educating a student in a government secondary school is $44,353, $10,013 more than in an aided school.
The report also highlighted the problem of many vacant classrooms and unfilled places in some of the government schools. The utilisation rate of resources in two of the schools the commission examined was less than 50 per cent because of the small number of students admitted. In another school it studied, no applications were received last year.
Educators urged the government to review whether it was valid to keep government schools and buy private school places.
Patrick Lai Shu-ho, a principal and member of the Education Commission, said the quality of government schools was generally low and described them as a 'historical burden' of the government.
'The original idea was for government schools to act as the Education and Manpower Bureau's testing ground for experimental teaching methods and practices. But I don't think such role has been played by the schools,' he said.
Another function of government schools was to allow EMB staff to gain frontline teaching experience.
But Mr Lai said that the purpose could be met by seconding teachers to work in the EMB. He added that it could also help streamline the EMB workforce and save resources.
Cheung Pak-hong, chairman of Education Convergence, agreed with Mr Lai. He said that the government should encourage popular aided secondary schools to join the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS). 'That would improve the overall quality of education and provide parents with more choices,' he said.
Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, Secretary for Education and Manpower, also said this week that he wanted to increase the proportion of DSS schools from four per cent to 20 per cent, in order to extend the diversity of schooling.
However, Cheung Man-kwong, legislator representing the education sector, said: 'The solution is to stop building new schools and buying unnecessary private school places. But the government tends to accept only the recommendations they are in favour of,' he said.
However, Choi Sung-ki, principal of a government school on Lantau Island and vice-chairman of the Federation of EMB Staff Associations, said the report was misleading and that resources had not been wasted in the government schools.
He admitted that his school's intake had fallen from more than 400 to 270, but said it was mainly because the population on the outlying island had dropped and more schools had been built in nearby districts.
'The so called 'vacant classrooms' are not really vacant because they are used for interest classes and small group teaching. You can see more of these 'vacant classrooms' in the much better resourced Y2K schools,' he said. The principal also criticised the commission for overlooking the need for extra resources for schools with weaker students.
