Early childhood education: by the same token
A voucher scheme to subsidise kindergarten education empowers parents but is driving many preschools out of business, writes Elaine Yau
Like many working-class parents, Yim Ka-yin welcomes publicly funded preschools. Her younger daughter, now in K1, gets HK$1,680 each month under the government's voucher scheme to subsidise kindergarten education. That isn't sufficient to cover the full fees, and because the family doesn't qualify for fee remission under a means-tested programme, Yim must pay HK$500 a month for the child's tuition at a Mong Kok kindergarten.
As her daughter progresses through kindergarten, Yim, a catering worker, expects payments will increase. Fees for her elder daughter, who completed preschool last year, rose to HK$800 per month, not including fees for extracurricular activities, she says.
Introduced in 2007, the voucher is available to any child attending a non-profit kindergarten offering the local curriculum that has joined the scheme. The idea is not just to widen access to preschool education. In a sector where standards vary considerably, education officials also aim to improve cost efficiency and raise teaching quality by setting conditions for participating schools. All teachers were expected to obtain Certificates in Early Childhood Education by the 2011-12 academic year, for example, and all principals taking up their posts from 2009 were expected to hold relevant degrees.
But kindergarten operators say the many restrictions under the scheme, particularly a cap on tuition, have driven many schools out of business. Of the 165 kindergartens that have closed since vouchers were introduced, 114 (69 per cent) were non-profit nurseries in the scheme.
Hong Kong Kindergarten Association president Mary Tong Siu-fun says whole-day nurseries have been hardest hit.
For the coming academic year, annual tuition is capped at HK$52,520 for whole-day nurseries, and HK$26,260 for half-day schools. However, the voucher value will remain the same for both.
"It's unfair to full-day operators that have higher overhead costs. Most of those that closed were full-day schools," says Tong, who is also principal of Parkview Rhine Garden Preschool in Sham Tseng.