The Po Kok Primary School in Happy Valley can open its doors to first-year pupils after striking a deal with the government that ruled out the need for a court challenge. Mr Justice Michael Hartmann announced in the Court of First Instance yesterday that the parties had reached an out of court agreement on Thursday and that a judicial review application had been dropped. He said the settlement was workable and gave his consent. School supervisor Vera Joyce Hui Lo, filed a High Court writ last month seeking a judicial review on the decision to phase out Primary One classes for aided primary schools that attract fewer than 23 first-year pupils. In the writ, Ms Hui said it was the Education and Manpower Bureau's intention to 'bring about the quick demise' of the aided primary schools and 'its subsequent acts and conduct are anything but promoting education'. In a statement released from court documents yesterday, the parties said they had reached an 'amicable settlement'. Under the deal, the school's sponsoring body, Tung Lin Kok Yuen, will meet the full cost of one Primary One class for the current school year and the Education and Manpower Bureau will pick up the tab for a 2005-06 class provided the 23-student threshold is met. While it continues to be met, the government will also fund the education of this year's batch of students until they reach Primary Six. It was agreed that the Secretary for Education and Manpower 'is not and shall not be considered as conceding in any way the validity of the challenge to the decisions of the respondent'. 'It is the parties' belief that the wider public interest is served by the saving in public resources that would otherwise have to be expended in conducting the present litigation,' the statement said. But another school head condemned the deal, saying it was biased towards rich schools. 'Po Kok is buying more time with money,' said Leung Kee-cheong, principal of the Fresh Fish Traders' School in Tai Kok Tsui. 'It costs $400,000 to run a primary class for one year. For poor schools like ours, we cannot afford to carry on classes without government money.' Mr Leung's school is among the 23 schools banned from admitting Primary One students in September. It and another have applied for a special inspection which could give them the right to re-admit students next year.