CHILDREN with serious emotional and behavioural problems should be provided with 'alternative schooling' facilities, says the Hong Kong Association of Heads of Secondary Schools. The group recommended that students with different needs be put in the care of schools offering an alternative curriculum, an arrangement that would also protect the majority normal students. The normal student could attend school in an environment free from risks posed by students with problems and needing special attention. Speaking at a press conference, association chairman Michael Wong Wai-yu said the needs of students with behavioural or emotional problems had still not been met by Hong Kong's special schools. 'There is the Skills Opportunity School for slow-learners, and there are the practical schools for students who are found to be unsuited for study in normal grammar schools. But students with emotional or behavioural problems have nowhere to go,' Mr Wong said. He said teachers lacked the professional expertise needed to handle such students, and invariably help had to be sought from school social workers. However, there is only one school social worker for every 2,000 secondary students, and this low ratio naturally puts a great strain on both teachers and professional helpers, said Chow Zee-lisu, secretary of the group. She said it would be unfair to the majority in a class if the teacher was forced to pay extra attention to the 'problem child'. Rejecting the notion that an attempt was being made to eject problem students from schools, Mr Wong said: 'We do not want to deprive such students of the chance to learn. We just want them to have a more stable, more suitable environment to study in.' Director of Education Lam Woon-kwong said that setting up 'alternative schools' for 'problem children' was unnecessary as he believed the existing service, involving school social workers and teacher counsellors, was adequate. He added that 'separating these schoolchildren for education' was not advisable.