Carlson Tong Ka-shing says his priority as the new chairman of the English Schools Foundation (ESF) is to negotiate with the government for extra funding and for more school places to serve the city's high demand for teaching in English.
Tong, 56, this week succeeded Professor Felice Lieh Mak and will serve for three years.
He said the ESF had begun to discuss its subsidy with the government and that, in light of inflation and increases in teachers' pay, he would 'try to get as much as I can'.
'It's time for the government to review the funding mode for ESF. The government subsidy has been frozen for 10 years, but the number of students has increased and there is inflation, so the subsidy per student has actually come down.'
The foundation received HK$283 million from the government for the 2009/10 academic year, down four per cent from HK$295 million it received a decade ago.
However, the subsidy for each primary-school pupil has fallen to HK$17,819 for the 2009/10 academic year from HK$23,505 in 1999-2000, a drop of more than 24 per cent. The subsidy for each secondary pupil has fallen to HK$23,990 from HK$32,205 over the same period, a drop of just over 25 per cent