The three elite government schools switching to partial funding from tuition fees this year have received fewer enrolments than expected. Educators said a meagre 405 applications for 180 Form One places was a result of parents being unwilling to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees during the economic downturn. St Paul's College and St Paul's Co-Educational College, both in Mid-Levels, will charge fees of $48,000 a year for Form One to Form Five students. Form Six and Form Seven students will pay $60,000 a year. Fees for students between Form One and Form Three at Good Hope School, a girls' college in Choi Hung, will be $35,000 a year while Form Four and Form Five students will pay $45,000. The schools switch to the direct subsidy scheme in September. Under the scheme, they will enjoy greater autonomy and flexibility than fully aided schools, including the discretion to charge tuition fees while receiving government subsidies linked to student numbers. Thousands of parents attended enrolment seminars held by other direct-subsidy schools late last year, suggesting high demand for enrolments. The decision by the three schools to switch to the scheme has been seen by education experts as a backlash against reform measures to reduce school pressures on pupils by dropping competitive entrance exams. St Paul's Co-Educational College had received 240 applications for its 60 Form One places open to outside applicants when the deadline for applications closed on Saturday. The 90 places offered by St Paul's College are being sought by 105 students. Good Hope School received 60 applications for 30 places available for outside applicants. Cheung Man-kwong, the legislator representing the education constituency, said the poorer-than-expected responses to the three schools showed that only a few well-off families could afford the fees. 'It is obvious that even middle-class families found the fees too expensive,' Mr Cheung said. 'The elite schools switching to the scheme will become clubs for the rich.' Paul Lee Kit-kong, chairman of the Primary Education Research Association, said many parents were not willing to pay the fees as a lot of public-sector schools had been catching up in standards in recent years. 'The lukewarm responses to these schools is likely to slow down the trend of elite schools switching to the scheme,' he said. However, Timothy Ha Wing-ho, principal of St Paul's College, said: 'Given the current economic downturn and wave of pay-cuts, the response is reasonably good.' garycheung@scmp.com
