School protest father calls off his campaign
A father who threatened to kill himself because his model-pupil son was rejected by an elite English school has expressed remorse for his action and applied to a Chinese-medium school.
Paul Li Chun-yin made an application for his 12-year-old son to the top-notch Tang King Po College in Kennedy Road, which teaches in Chinese, after Education Bureau officials told him the school had vacancies.
'I am not trying to make a big fuss about everything, I also want to bring the matter to a peaceful end,' Li said yesterday. 'I apologise for all the inconvenience caused to the public.'
The school confirmed it had received Li's application and an interview would be arranged.
'I know I have no say whatsoever now,' he said. 'I will just take whatever is given to me. I will not insist on an English school, but I just want a quality education for my child when I know he is capable.'
Early this month, Li camped outside Government House seeking a meeting with Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. He complained the government's class-reduction policy - which cut the number of classes at 200 secondary schools this year - reduced the chances of pupils getting into elite schools. Li said his son had excellent Primary Six results but King's College rejected him.
Last Friday he brought Wan Chai's morning traffic to a halt after threatening to jump from a footbridge and firemen were sent to rescue him. Li earlier insisted his son be sent to an English-medium school.
The Education Bureau confirmed it had given Li information about schools that had vacancies.
