Hong Kong government rules out paying to build schools in mainland China offering local curriculum
Offering local curriculum over border dismissed as a short-term fix
The government will not spend public money to build schools in Shenzhen offering the Hong Kong curriculum for locally-born children living north of the border, an education official told lawmakers yesterday.
Undersecretary for education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung ruled out the idea, which has been mooted in response to a dramatic increase in demand for local school places from Hong Kong-born children living on the mainland.
Each day, thousands of children cross the border to attend schools and kindergartens.
The influx has alarmed parents in areas close to the border who fear missing out on their preferred school, but Yeung said demand was likely to be short term as the effects of a 2013 ban on mainland women giving birth in the city kicked in.
Yeung said there was little point in spending money to "solve the transitional problem of cross-border pupils".
But some members of the Legislative Council's education panel said the decision showed the government did not care about the hardship for children who spent hours every day getting across the border.