Parents stunned by high pay packages

English Schools Foundation (ESF) teachers, among the highest paid in international schools in Hong Kong, are to receive new benefits worth up to $18,000 a month.

The new package was approved by a special executive committee meeting of the ESF on Tuesday and will come into effect next September.

The package includes 80 per cent remission off ESF school fees for up to two children, a housing allowance of 30 per cent up to a maximum of $6,000, one-way air tickets on their initial appointment for themselves and their dependents, and medical cover.

All teachers will be eligible for the benefits, with the housing allowance to be phased in over three years. The package will gradually replace the more generous overseas contracts that those who joined the ESF prior to 1997 still enjoy. It also replaces the monthly salary supplements of $10,000, which have been offered on a discretionary basis since then, that have caused deep bitterness in ESF staffrooms across Hong Kong among teachers who have not received them. Those on these packages will have the option of switching to the new benefits or retaining what they now have.

Salaries quoted by the ESF during negotiations reveal that about 76 per cent of ESF teachers, excluding principals and deputies, earn more than $60,000 a month, and 42 per cent more than $70,000. These figures include the 20 per cent gratuity that they receive at the end of their two-year contracts, as well as allowances for extra responsibilities. They do not include existing benefits.

These figures are based on the staff profile at September 1999, which John Bohan, the ESF's financial controller, said had changed little since then. While noting that the profile of ESF teachers was increasingly young, he said teachers could reach the top of the pay scale by their late 20s.