Mainland parents flocked to local primary schools near the border yesterday hoping to secure spots for their Hong Kong-born children.
Applications for cross-border places opened yesterday, after a delay of one day due to Typhoon Usagi. Many mainland parents had their eye on schools in Sheung Shui, close to the border.
But many feared their children could be allocated to far-flung schools in Tung Chung on Lantau Island. That's because of a new Education Bureau policy for the next academic year where mainland parents are required to choose individual schools for their children, rather than choosing a district and having the government allocate their child a place within it, as was the case in previous years.
It also requires hundreds of schools in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, North District and Tai Po to reserve at least two places in every Primary One class for cross-border pupils.
Schools in Tung Chung and Ma On Shan, meanwhile, can choose to join the scheme offering places to cross-border pupils.
"I'm really afraid my son will be sent to Tung Chung. I don't know what I'd do," said one mother from Shenzhen.