The Government dug its heels in last night on the issue of education for mainland children by rejecting an offer by the Catholic Church to let them attend its schools.
The move drew immediate fire from human rights activists and legislators, who criticised the Government for 'shamelessly' depriving children of their right to an education by using twisted arguments.
The stiffening of the Government's stance came as Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, coadjutor bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, sent a letter to the heads of all 300 Catholic schools, asking them to take the children in if they had room, or at least let them sit in on classes.
But last night a government source warned that any school that admitted the children without approval from the Education and Immigration departments while they waited for the results of their applications for right of abode could be committing a crime.
Revealing for the first time that 170 - not 100 as earlier thought - mainland children have had their applications to go to school rejected, the source said lifting the ban could encourage more mainland children to come or to stay in Hong Kong illegally.
The 170 are among 570 children under 18 who have been granted temporary stay in Hong Kong while waiting for the results of their application for right of abode. About 290 have not applied to go to school, while 110 were given permission to attend school.
The source said most of the 110 had applied to go to school before the legal questions involving right of abode and the time needed to complete the court battles were clarified.
