The government's proposal to merge at least 30 secondary schools because of falling student numbers has met with a predictable response. Critics have called for the number of pupils in each class to be cut instead.
A reduction in class sizes, which often have more than 40 students, would be a positive step. However, both sides of the debate may be overlooking a wider opportunity to enhance the quality of education by putting underutilised schools to better use.
Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li Kwok-cheung proposes that schools that run fewer than 12 classes be merged. There are already more than 30 of these, with a significant drop in admissions overall expected by 2009-10.
Meanwhile, many schools - typically those admitting mainly Band One students and new Direct Subsidy Scheme schools - have ever longer waiting lists. The fall in student numbers, a result of Hong Kong's declining birth rate, has not made it easier to accommodate parents' preferences for the kind of schools they wish their children to attend. Demand is more uneven than ever.
While some schools struggle to attract students, others receive up to 2,000 applications for 100 places.
The fall in student numbers offers the government the opportunity to take a more proactive role in matching supply with demand, rather than just forcing underused schools to merge.
It is not only a chance to weed out the weakest schools, but also to better meet the needs of children as individuals. At present, it seems market forces alone cannot be relied on to achieve that because they do not sufficiently take account of the actual quality of education offered by the most and least popular schools.
