The government has been driven by nothing but good intentions in its education reforms, but the exercise has become a textbook case of the law of unintended consequences.
By dividing Hong Kong into geographic 'school nets', students are pretty much guaranteed a place from primary level onward at a school close to where they live. Unfortunately, this has led to longer queues at many so-called prestigious schools.
On Tuesday, more than a thousand parents queued for application forms for the next school year at the Diocesan Girls' Junior School, in Jordan. One parent admitted she rented a flat in Jordan just so the family's address would fall within the school net to which the Diocesan school belonged.
Why this strange phenomenon, which is probably unique to Hong Kong?
One reason is that some school nets coincide with districts that are clustered with those 'prestigious' schools, while other nets are located in areas with hardly any reputable schools.
Alas, Hongkongers are prestige-driven even in their children's education.