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- Feb 18, 2013
- Updated: 9:43am
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English Schools Foundation
The English Schools Foundation (ESF) operates five secondary schools, nine primary schools and a school for students with special educational needs across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. It is the largest international educational foundation in Asia and was established in 1967 by the Hong Kong Government to provide a seamless, affordable English language education. The curriculum, based on the British system which has now introduced the International Baccalaureate (IB), is adapted to Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region. ESF schools, which currently teach 13,000 students, receive a subsidy from the Hong Kong Government but also charge tuition fees to parents.
ESF quandary requires Education Bureau to rethink policies
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Beijing socialites are signing up to the country's first school of etiquette, writes Simon Parry, and its Hong Kong-born founder is on a mission to reawaken traditions of courtesy.
The decision by the English Schools Foundation to end its long-standing admissions priority for children who do not speak Chinese may come as a shock to many, but it is to be expected.
The government has made it clear it wants to phase out funding for ESF schools. So, if they are to go private, it makes sense for them to behave like most other private international schools, which have no such admissions policy.
Likewise, in the highly unlikely event that it succeeds in convincing the government to reverse its stance and even raise funding, ESF schools would have to act more like local direct-subsidy schools. Preferential admissions for non-Chinese speaking pupils have long been a sore point for many local parents who are dissatisfied with local schools and want to put their children in ESF schools. It would be a "hard sell" for the government if it continues or raises funding while the ESF maintains the admissions priority.
But whether ESF schools become fully private, the latest decision will likely upset many new families in Hong Kong whose primary language is not Chinese and whose children cannot easily integrate into the local school system. Competition for places at ESF and international schools is already keen for this group even without the change in admissions criteria at the ESF.
The government, therefore, cannot just wash its hands after phasing out funding for the ESF. It has a responsibility to make sure adequate school places are available for foreign and expatriate families. This is not just about fairness, but also the practical need to maintain Hong Kong as an international hub that can compete with other world-class Asian cities to attract outside talent.
There are direct subsidy schools and other elite public schools that are capable of expanding their English-curriculum programmes. A few have experimented operating an alternative International Baccalaureate stream. Some have expressed willingness to take in more than a few token foreign or expatriate students. They should be encouraged. Instead, they are being discouraged by the Education Bureau, which still insists that local schools are for local students.
Education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim has reaffirmed this outdated policy. He needs to think outside the box, not to follow his bureaucrats who can only operate inside one.
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9:52am
Thank you for your demand for an explanation
sorry for my delayed reply
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While a student, I enjoyed Sunday morning in dorm library
devouring newspapers and book reviews, trying to understand the world
which now I have learnt is too troublesome for weekend relaxation
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Good, like GOD, is the proverbial man’s meat we know,
It has different interpretations and applications
It’s unwise to promote a “good” standard
without regard for its consequences.
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If Kissinger and Ban invested their times “polishing” their english
would they be speaking more like a native speaker
and would they achieve their substantive successes?
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The city is sick to promote a foreign language as “indispensable”
and set “native speakers” as the good standard and the goal
knowing that language talent is a gift
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Misguided talents wasting time to ape foreign speak
become gofers with acquired foreign language skill
to understand commands from native speakers
who can naturally think and operate in mother tongue.
9:48pm
The government should take 2 empty primary schools, paint them up and do some fix up and then hand them to ESF for free. Or better yet there is land on Kai Tak allocated for schools. Just build a nice big primary school and hand it to ESF. The government wants Kai Tak to be the CBD2 in Hong Kong. What better way then putting an international primary school on it. Then expats and business owners wont go looking just for jobs in Central where the international schools are but seek jobs in CBD2. This would help make CBD2 extremely successful and make HK government a star and make HK a Jewel of Asia once again.
5:23am
their standard is for their own purpose based on proper social self respect
unlike the servile depreciation evident here:
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" excellent, ie, native English language skill"
"90+% ethnic Chinese, ... quality of spoken English further deteriorates ..."
"Children of NET raise the overall standard of English ... " of DSS
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Such ridiculous attitude should make any HKer with proper communal self respect
ashamed of speaking "excellent" English like its natural speakers
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If English is to be of any sustainable popular use here
We must bastardise it, discourage pure breed,
and twist it into shapes that suit our physique
Linguistically HK isn't the place for pedigree bulldog
The pure breed fit for development here is Chinese
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Why would 90+% of the population like the English language
if whenever they open their mouths, they demonstrate "inferiority"
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Such self-inflicted linguistic entrapment is ridiculously unnecessary
HK benefits the sooner we cancel ESF's subvention
9:11pm
10:29pm
9:22pm
4:07pm
Not a single comment as late as 4pm
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For the kind of re-thinking we need
to eliminate the quandary left behind by the colony
let’s adapt BO’s State of the Union speech
to HK where those who could be illegal / new immigrants in the US
are treated as privileged “expatriates”
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“Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned [residency for the rights to social benefits like subsidized education]—a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning [Chinese], and going to the back of the line behind the folks [who have been here long before you]”
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To the writer of this SCMP editorial:
Don’t be so blind and biased as to
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(1) refer only to “direct subsidy schools and other elite public schools” when local education is considered for “expatriates”. The average local school is better than what most expatriates would get back where they came from. If they want our best, they must compete. Go study ECJ’s “Belgian case”.
(2) perpetuate the quandary by continuing unwarranted privileges that would attract only the likes of “filths” and not foreign talents. Real talents need no public subsidy from a foreign country and would NEVER allow their children study in a segregated environment. HK has no need for “privileged expatriates” who come here for our social benefits.
