Hong Kong people think there is only one way to educate local residents' mainland-born children: build more schools so as to make more school places available.
But is this really the only way or, more important, the best way to educate mainland children? Can we be more imaginative in tackling the education problems of the tens of thousands of mainland-born children, such as by building schools on the mainland? Already, Hong Kong educationists are running elite schools on the southern Chinese mainland, and employing a Hong Kong syllabus for their kindergarten, primary- and secondary-school students.
The schools' principal 'catchment' is Hong Kong residents' mainland-born children but they also have students from Hong Kong. Immigration staff at checkpoints should be fully aware that, for some time now, Hong Kong children have travelled across the border every day to go to schools in Shenzhen.
One schoolmaster recently claimed his students had no problem adapting to the Hong Kong education environment once they were settled in Hong Kong. Instead, he said, Hong Kong students there had difficulty in catching up with subjects such as physics, mathematics and biology.
In short, he was suggesting the quality of education there was equally good as, if not better than, that of Hong Kong.
The concept of building schools designated for Hong Kong residents' mainland-born children across the border is worth exploring.
Lack of education is a core problem of young mainland immigrants. Many, because of language difficulties or syllabus differences, have found it hard to adjust to the Hong Kong curriculum. If it can be proved that a better education on the mainland helps them adapt to Hong Kong, it will be less of a strain on Hong Kong teachers.