Poor children seek 15 years of free education
More than 100 children from poor families staged a demonstration outside the Central Government Offices yesterday to call for six more years of free education.
The group accused education minister Arthur Li Kwok-cheung of failing to provide enough support for children living in poverty, such as transport and other costs. They also accused publishers of making unnecessary changes to textbooks, thus rendering second-hand ones useless.
Sze Lai-shan, organiser of the Society for Community Organisation which organised the demonstration, quoted official figures showing that of 420,000 students applying for subsidies for tuition and textbooks, just 150,000 - less than a third - were granted full subsidies.
Ms Sze warned that more than one in four children and teenagers under 18 in Hong Kong were living in poverty and they might be forced to drop out of school because their families could not pay for the tuition.
Figures from the Census and Statistics Department show that 370,000 children live in poverty, with a family income less than half the median household monthly income.
The society called for 15 years of free education - including three years in kindergarten and three more years in secondary school which are not provided free under the existing system.
Free education is only provided for nine years - six years in primary and three years in secondary.
Ms Sze warned that it would not help tackle inter-generation poverty if the next generation was not given enough education, especially in a knowledge-based economy like Hong Kong.
'Macau plans to extend its nine years of free education to 15 years. But Hong Kong, a world-class city, is so backward in its education system, keeping its nine years of free education for 30 years without making changes,' she said.
