School offers fewer places due to smaller classes
The introduction of small-class teaching has intensified the competition for discretionary places in Primary One classes. Fewer places are being offered to children who failed to secure one of their top three school choices under the central allocation system.
At Yaumati Catholic Primary School in Tung Kun Street, Yau Ma Tei, dozens of parents started to queue yesterday morning seeking places for their children. The school has just 15 discretionary places available.
The number of such places at the school is five fewer than the previous year because the maximum number of students in each Primary One class will shrink from 30 to 25 in the next academic year.
Poon Shu-chiu, the principal of the school, said more than 200 application forms were issued to the parents yesterday, meaning that there would be 13 children competing for each Primary One place available at the school.
Mr Poon urged parents not to panic about the application and advised them and their children to relax during the interview process.
About 80 per cent of the 20,978 students registered under the central allocation system for Primary One places have been allotted to one of the first three schools they chose, 2.6 per cent fewer than in the previous school year.
Many parents had been anxious about the allocation results, which were released yesterday. Some were relieved after learning that their children had been allocated the schools they had chosen.
'I feel like I just unloaded a heavy rock,' a mother said.
But some parents said they had not been able to sleep well for a week. 'I have been suffering from insomnia the past week ... all because of the news about school closures and small-class teaching,' another concerned mother said.
