Popular Form One picks harder to get
More than 60,000 Primary Six students will find out today if they will go to a school of their choice.
Fewer of them got their top picks this year, the Education Bureau said yesterday. Only 85 per cent of students were given discretionary places or one of their first three choices under central allocation, 3 per cent fewer than last year. The proportion of those who got their first choice - either as a discretionary place or through central allocation - also dropped from 73 to 70 per cent.
A total of 67,963 students took part in the allocation exercise this year, down from 71,846 a year ago.
Top schools were offering fewer places because of a smaller class size, leading to fiercer competition among students, a headmaster said. Each Form One class will have 36 students from the next academic year, two places fewer than this year. As a result, there would be around 1,000 fewer places in English-medium schools, said Alex Cheung Chi-hung, chairman of the Aided Primary School Heads Association.
Due to the suspension of classes amid swine-flu fears, Primary Six students did not need to return to school today to collect the allocation and admission slips, nor did they have to register in person at their allotted secondary school on Thursday or Friday, the bureau said. Parents or authorised persons could do so on their behalf. A letter of authorisation is available at the primary schools.
