When Cheng Man-kwan heard his principal offer a financial incentive that would keep him at his To Kwa Wan school, he couldn't believe his ears - the school would be paying his family to keep the young fellow on, so he wouldn't have to change schools. Man-kwan, 12, used to live near his school, but last year his family moved to a new public flat in Tseung Kwan O, turning him into a commuter and adding $300 a month in bus fares to family expenses.
With the school offering up to $800 a year in travelling allowances to individual students, Man-kwan's mother, Chau Suet-hung, 40, is equally thrilled. 'The money will reduce our burden,' she says. 'I never thought a school would have a travelling allowance.' But unlike Ms Chau and Man-kwan, some local educators aren't so happy. They see that small monetary offering as having a long-term influence on Hong Kong's younger generations, and say the allowances are immoral and damaging children's values.
Ho Hon-kuen, vice-chairman of Education Convergence, a pressure group criticising education policies, says incentive plans will lead to children becoming money-orientated and parents and teachers will be badly influenced too.
'Education reforms talk about moral improvements, but this money damages their morals,' he says. 'A tuition house can do this, because it is a business, but a school should not. With money [incentives], you are treating education like a business.'
Koo Hok-chun, head of Northcote College of Education Past Students' Association School, where Man-kwan attends, defends its monetary plan. '[This criticism] is unfair. We are not bribing students. We want to help poor families,' Mr Koo says. 'Also, it is a way to increase student numbers for us to survive. This district has lots of new migrants who will move away as they get public housing, and there are few new children.'
Falling admissions, due to the declining birth rate, have forced many schools to adopt desperate survival methods. Some offer free weekend tuition, while others send out brochures promoting their institutions. Many put banners and light-boxes outside their premises, advertising academic achievements. Others hire image consultants. Under the policies of the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB), schools that don't have a Primary One class have to close. To speed up the process last year, the EMB raised the minimum number of pupil admissions in Primary One intakes from 16 to 23, despite protests from schools. Some analysts estimate 2,500 classes will be cut and more than 100 primary schools closed.