Decision to end ESF subsidy a lesson in Machiavellian ruthlessness

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Alex Lo is a senior writer at the South China Morning Post. He writes editorials and the daily “My Take” column on page 2. He also edits the weekly science and technology page in Sunday Morning Post.

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Carlson Tong, chairman of the English Schools Foundation (ESF) announced that government subvention for ESF schools will start phasing out in the school year 2016-17 at ESF office in Quarry Bay. Photo: Felix Wong

Shock and horror! Fees for schools under the English Schools Foundation from 2016 will be at least 23 per cent higher as the government phases out the public subsidy.

But you would expect that. The die was cast once the Education Bureau announced it would phase out the current subsidy. You want to know how much ESF parents will eventually have to pay? Just check out the fees of other international schools.

The decision to end the subsidy after freezing payment for a decade may go down in history as one of the most ruthless made by this administration. But before you pick up your pitchfork and bay for blood, it's not entirely the fault of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his education secretary, Eddie Ng Hak-kim. Of course it is their fault for allowing it to happen. But I am actually not sure they know what they are doing with the ESF in the sense they almost certainly did not come up with the policy decision - those immediately below Ng within the bureau did.

There is an almost Machiavellian elegance to the decision - if you discount its irresponsibility, unfairness and immorality. You can be sure our clueless Mr Ng would never come up with something so clever; this is reserved for the senior administrative officials within the bureau, not a few of whom - I bet - are, or were, ESF parents.

Let's see what this decision really means. Taxpayers' money will be saved. The ESF is certain to prosper, as it will be able to charge high fees and million-dollar debentures on a par with other international schools. The government can claim it is helping to boost international school places without lifting a finger. It is also a populist decision as many local families resent the real or perceived special treatment given to the ESF as an old colonial institution.

But it is never explained why it is no longer the government's responsibility to support affordable education for non-Chinese-speaking children of residents or permanent residents. Nor is it clear why local families should be left to their own devices once they leave the local system and join the international school sector.

But the reality is that these families are on their own unless they can pay the high school fees.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as MY TAKE A lesson in Machiavellian ruthlessness

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This article is now closed to comments

johnyuan Jun 10th 2013
7:57pm

It is unreasonable for expats to demand HK to provide good and less expansive education for their children. Local schools for local children should take precedence when come to budget distribution. However, it is not to say expats are locked out of future ESF school system. All expats worthy to their employer are valuable employees who would or should be given with adjusted compensation for their children’s higher education expanse. The option for leaving HK for a better place is certainly one’s prerogative. For those locals who hitchhike on the ESF may have some room for grievance. They should demand ESF or the like with affordability because HK government is obligated towards its citizens. In fact, Hong Kong government is obligated to provide good education to all its citizens just like all progressive governments do. Education for the international community due to commerce should rightly to follow the marketplace. ESF for the British civil servants has lived out of its justification and rightly it is finally a close chapter in HK history. All should move on?

ctringham Jun 11th 2013
11:30pm

Less expansive? What's that, then?
How many of the students ESF are children of British civil servants? But I guess that the ESF is never going to shake off its association with the old colonial government.

caractacus Jun 8th 2013
11:36pm

Good article Alex, except do you really credit the Education Bureau with THINKING?

pslhk Jun 8th 2013
4:40pm

There are honor lists
and honor lists
Some resemble the Hua Mount Contest
at the end of 神鵰俠侶

skhk Jun 8th 2013
11:12am

So much for "Asia's world city." Any expatriate family not in the finance sector will never consider laying down roots in Hong Kong now.

dynamco Jun 8th 2013
3:49pm

www.cie.org.uk/
ESF website:
Six ESF students awarded TOP IN THE WORLD in Cambridge exams 16 March 2013
Congratulations to our students who recently received the awards from Cambridge International Examinations (CIE)!
CIE announced that six ESF students achieved the Top in the World award in the June 2012 IGCSE examinations. Another six achieved Top in Hong Kong and three more received High Achievement across a range of subjects. The examinations were held in over 40 countries around the world. Around 1,000 ESF students took examinations across 36 subjects.
Top in the World
King George V School Karen LAI Wing Yee Business Studies
West Island School CHUI Wan Fung International Mathematics WIS student Chui Wan Fung, who had been accelerated from Year 10 to Year 12, completed the IGCSE International Mathematics a year early with the Top in the World award
Island School Caleb HO Sze Yuen Foreign Language Mandarin Chinese
Joshua WONG Ho Lam
CHAN Chun Long
Janice LEUNG Wing Yan
spot the g-wai-lo ?
exactly
yet EDB fails to offer equal fee subventions to ALL children born in HK or with HK permanent ID

PCC Jun 8th 2013
3:27pm

The forced departure from Hong Kong of all but the most skilled and highly paid expatriates (who also have the most to lose by openly opposing Chinese government policies) is part of a deliberate CCP strategy to make HK more tractable from their point of view.

pslhk Jun 8th 2013
9:59am

jve mentioned DSS,
for which one should read
Selina Cheng’s letter of Friday the7th
“Equality at stake in college DSS proposal”
that inspired my following comment:
-
Thank you Selina Cheng
for your very thoughtful critique
DSS resembles some elaborated home-made placebo
for the divisive effect of esf’s caste model of licentious learning
that deluded officials pushed under the specious label of ”liberal” education
DSS was educational aftermath of defeatist colonial mentality
-
Let’s tally the socio-economic cost / benefit of DSS
from an objective (public) perspective

jve Jun 8th 2013
10:27am

pslhk, I am not entirely sure what you are trying to say, and fear you are taking the DSS out of context and downgrading it to some post-colonial fig-leaf. If that is indeed your gist, then I don't think that does the DSS justice.

The DSS has been around for more than 20 years, and now includes over 50 secondary schools, and more than 20 primary ones. As you probably are aware, many previously fully private schools, including very long-standing and reputable ones have found a home in the DSS scheme. A fair number of the secondary schools widely considered to be the best in Hong Kong (certainly when it comes to difficulty of gaining admission at least) are in the DSS scheme, and more may follow.

The majority of these schools are English speaking (EMI), and they are allowed to maintain a high degree of autonomy with regards to admissions, budgeting, staff policies and so on. They can even have an IB stream. As long as their main purpose remains to prepare pupils for the HKDSE exams, they will receive subsidy. And while some DSS schools' fees can still be high (some are as high as the current ESF fees), this obviously does help a lot to help them much more affordable than non-subsidised, international schools like the ESF post-2015.

It is a real shame the ESF choose not to enter the DSS with all or at least some of its schools.

pslhk Jun 8th 2013
2:43pm

jve, “autonomy with regards to admissions” - Why autonomy?
“As long as their main purpose remains to prepare pupils for …”
How would who decide who qualify as these DSS’ pupils?
-
You may wish to respond to Salina Cheng’s point about equality
Would DSS help or undermine equal opportunity in education,
and promote or hinders social mobility?
-
That many DSS are hoarding their obligatory financial aids unused
reminds me of Student Prince where aristocratic students told the prince enrolled incognito:
“you won’t be comfortable in our midst