Parents have complained that an English Schools Foundation (ESF) school has put too much pressure on their children to raise funds in an annual raffle.
A staff memo, written by Marshall Hughes, assistant principal of Sha Tin College and the co-ordinator of its fund-raising fair to be held today, reminded form tutors: 'Every child is expected to sell his/her allocation of two books.'
Further on, it added: 'Any child who does not (or who loses the tickets) will be asked to come and see me personally to explain.'
The memo gave one reason not to sell the tickets. 'The only exception to this in the past has been on religious grounds,' it read. 'In this case, a letter from the parents to this effect will exempt the child from any involvement in the raffle. In all other cases, they should sell the books.' One raffle book contains 10 tickets, each costing $10.
One parent told Education Post that his son had told him he believed he would get into trouble if he did not sell all the tickets. 'They have no right to force them to sell tickets, for all sorts of reasons,' he said.
Another parent said that she felt the pressure put on her daughter was unreasonable. 'This is ridiculous and not part of our family's culture,' she said. She was concerned that if she did not buy the tickets herself, her daughter would have to sell them door-to-door in their estate, which she did not think was safe.