Retired teacher returns to work to save dying kindergarten
The inspiring story of a teacher and five pupils at a fading Yuen Long kindergarten, and its subsequent reversal of fortune, hits cinemas in March
At the start of 2009, the odds were against Yuen Kong Kindergarten seeing in the new decade. It had become run-down, the walls were grimy, and basic equipment - including the printer and phone - didn't work. Worse, its last teacher had left. Just five pupils remained at the kindergarten, which served distant Yuen Kong Tsuen in Yuen Long. Closure seemed inevitable.
Today it's a thriving nursery school where 64 children have lessons in classrooms filled with colourful drawings, and play in a courtyard shaded by star fruit trees.
The kindergarten's story is the subject of Little Big Master, a new film starring singer-actress Miriam Yeung Chin-wah. Scheduled for release next year, it tells of the woman who saved the school from closure, turning it into the vibrant place it is today - Lilian Lui Lai-hung.
The former manager of a kindergarten in Discovery Bay, Lui had taken early retirement so she could have more time to travel round the world with her husband. But when a news report about the plight of Yuen Kong pupils caught her eye, she contacted the preschool's supervisor to offer her help while they looked for a replacement teacher.
Lui started giving lessons at the kindergarten in April 2009. It paid HK$4,500 per month, as that was all the school could afford from the government subsidy for nursery places.
"Originally, I planned to teach until the summer," says Lui, 49. "Once the new term started, the five children could transfer to another preschool or advance to primary school. I didn't want them to be deprived of a place to study for several months before the summer break."