Letters

End public funding for ESF schools

Mike Rowse's observation that the controversy over English Schools Foundation school fees is obscuring big issues is evidenced by his article ('Value of a good education for all is in the balance', May 16). He has missed all the important points about ESF schools' awkward position in Hong Kong's education scene.

His generalisation that ESF schools, like international schools, provide 'a world-class education' at a 'high price' is simplistic. An international curriculum isn't necessarily available only at 'international schools' at 'a high price'.

For example, Creative Secondary School is a direct subsidy scheme school. For about half of the school fees charged by the ESF, it offers the International Baccalaureate diploma programme and implements Hong Kong's new secondary curriculum through the IB Middle Years framework.

Diocesan Boys' School is another example of a direct subsidy scheme school which, for about one-third of the ESF's fees, offers a curriculum to prepare students for both the Hong Kong diploma and the IB diploma.

Unlike ESF schools, Creative and Diocesan are truly international, with an inclusive curriculum covering local and non-local syllabuses and an inclusive admission policy that disregards the applicant's social and linguistic background.

Some schools are labelled international because of their preferential admission for non-local applicants. For foreign nationals whose languages or whose education syllabus are not commonly used in local schools, it is understandable that schools preferentially admit their own nationals.