Tung Chung head cries foul as officials warn off parents

The only village school in Tung Chung is fighting for survival amid a series of attempts by the Education Department to close village schools in the district.

The school head and management of Tung Chung Public School, which has been ordered by the Government to close in 2003, have accused the department of turning away their prospective students. They say it called up parents who had asked for places at the school and told them to reconsider their choice.

'We will accept the decision to close our school if the students we receive are too few, but it is unfair for the Education Department to interfere with our discretionary places allocation by frightening people away from our school,' said Mak Wai-kuen, principal of the school.

In a letter issued by the Education Department two weeks ago, the school on Lantau Island was told to 'cease operation with effect from 1 September 2003'. It also said that the School Improvement Programme for the school would be cancelled, meaning the loss of a $15 million budget allocated earlier this year for the school's renovation.

The Education Department's original plan was to close the school this year. But it decided to postpone to 2003 to give more time for the school, parents and students to prepare for the change.

The primary school, located inside the 169-year-old Tung Chung Fort and guarded by four historic cannons, has been operating for about 80 years.

The number of students in the school has, since 1998, increased from six to around 30, with the six primary forms combined in three classes. Half of the students, including five newly arrived children from the mainland, went there because of difficulties in adjusting to mainstream schools.