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Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)
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Anti-bias body takes department to court over Form One allocation system that favours boys

The outcome of a court hearing that begins today could put an immediate end to a decades-old Form One allocation system that favours boys over girls.

The Equal Opportunities Commission has ruled the system discriminates against girls and is taking the Education Department to court after the latter refused to scrap the system.

The judicial review, which is expected to last 10 days, will cost taxpayers about $10 million, according to a source.

It is not clear what consequences the outcome of the ruling will have on the 81,000 primary school graduates who are currently choosing secondary schools under the existing system. Both the commission and the department have refused to comment.

The allocation system has been in place since 1978 and is scheduled to be abolished in 2005 under the education reform plan. It processes boys and girls' applications separately using a different criteria to equalise the numbers of boys and girls in co-educational, upper-band schools to roughly half from each gender group.

To achieve this ratio, some girls with higher scores are denied admission to their first choice schools, while boys with lower marks are admitted. The system works against girls because they mature earlier and so tend to achieve higher academic results. The gender bias first came to light three years ago.

Another source said some co-educational schools could end up admitting 70 per cent girls if the system was scrapped immediately.

'Parents are not aware that the court verdict may affect their decision in choosing schools,' the source said. 'The Education Department appears to be unprepared for what will happen if it loses the case.'

Under legal procedure, the existing allocation system can continue to operate for at least this year, should the Education Department lose the case and appeal.

It is understood that Lord Anthony Lester QC and Nicholas Cooney have been hired to represent the commission. Counsels for the Education Department will be Nigel Pleming QC and Eric Shum. Lord Lester and Mr Pleming are from Britain.

One of the sources said the high legal costs involved stemmed in part from experts the commission was forced to call in to rebut expert government evidence.

Each side will present written submissions from four to five experts who are mostly overseas academics in education.

Even though the commission has no financial provisions for such high-cost cases, it is pursuing the case because it considers the principles involved relate directly to its mandate to enforce gender equality.

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