Just Saying | International or local school for Hong Kong kids: does it really matter?
Yonden Lhatoo highlights the tale of two toddlers in the city and sympathises with their parents who have very different ideas of how best to educate their children
You only have to look at the daunting, dollar-driven business of sending your children to school in Hong Kong to understand why this city has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
It’s just way too much hard work, starting from the kindergarten admission process, which can require so much preparation and fortitude from both preschoolers and parents that they might as well be taking entrance exams and interviews for Nasa than securing a nursery seat among a bunch of yet-to-be-toilet-trained toddlers.
Two tiny tots I happen to know personally and the opposite directions their parents are taking will illustrate the age-old, local-versus-international schooling dilemma that education in this city essentially boils down to.
Little George’s dad is an Australian colleague at work and his mum is a Hongkonger. You’d expect his parents to put him in an international school, but they’re not jumping on that bandwagon.
George is going to be educated in a local, government-run school. His dad told me that he’s going to be a “local boy” – the product of Hong Kong’s free primary and secondary education system.