The fierce competition for international school places in Hong Kong has made world headlines, but there are more places than people think for students from various ethnic or multicultural backgrounds.
American Kenna Ford, who lived for three years in Shanghai where her father was working before moving to Hong Kong last year, is in Secondary Three at a local school offering an international curriculum.
'I hope I'll stay around for a few more years,' said the student at the YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College in Tung Chung. 'I really like it. This is my first year here and everyone has been very friendly. I was shocked that everyone welcomed and accepted us.'
Briton Ryan Harling, a Mui Wo resident, also began his secondary schooling here last year. He said he particularly enjoyed the Putonghua lessons, where his bilingual teacher often discussed life in Hong Kong in English and Putonghua. 'I found it very interesting that a person speaking a very different language can learn Chinese,' said the 12-year-old student.
The Tung Chung school is a Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) school with a mixture of students from local and expatriate families. DSS schools, which enjoy more flexibility in setting their curriculums than government and aided schools, can offer international curriculums to a limited number of students in senior forms. But most students must follow a curriculum aimed at preparing them for local examinations. Each school is required to allot at least 10 per cent of its school fee income to provide financial aid or scholarships for deserving students.
At the YMCA college, which has pupils from 40 countries, only half of its senior students can do the Cambridge International Advanced Level exams. About 70 per cent of its junior form students are non-locals.
