Drive to reduce teaching group sizes only in schools with socially disadvantaged students under fire
Parents and schools have called for smaller class sizes for all students regardless of their social background.
Their plea was made in reaction to the government's plans to implement small classes in junior years of primary schools with the highest proportion of students from disadvantaged families. To qualify, schools must have at least 40 per cent of Primary One to Three students receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) in the next academic year.
Seventy-five schools are expected to be eligible. They will receive $290,000 in cash grants a year per additional class, allowing them to split students in classes of 20 to 25 for Chinese, English and maths, compared with normal class sizes from 32 to 37.
Nelson Lau Chi-keung, chairman of the Subsidised Primary Schools Council, said the government was over-simplifying education issues as a problem of equity.
'Socio-economic status of students is only one of the factors affecting their educational outcome,' Mr Lau said. 'Poor students are not doomed to academic failure, just as rich students are not problem-free.