International schools to get vacant buildings Schools serving the Singaporean and Swiss-German communities are set to expand after being awarded surplus school buildings on Hong Kong Island. They were selected from among six international schools that applied last year for the buildings now occupied by Pokfulam Government Primary School and Shue Yan Secondary School in Wong Chuk Hang. The two government schools are due to close because they cannot attract enough pupils. The Education Bureau offered their buildings to the international sector at nominal rent to help cut long waiting lists. Singapore International School will take over the Shue Yan building to launch a secondary section for more than 400 children aged 13 to 18, offering bilingual education and a British-style curriculum. Principal Madam Mak Lai Ying said: 'The site is ideal. It is just next to our school and we can plan for an integrated curriculum. There have been constant demands from stakeholders for years for us to start a secondary section.' Students would be admitted to Secondary One classes from September in the school's current building while the Shue Yan building was refurbished for use in two to three years, she said. The German Swiss International School on The Peak has been offered use of the Pok Fu Lam campus from 2009. School leaders were away last week and a spokeswoman indicated it was not certain the offer would be accepted. 'Under the terms of the offer, the school has two months to confirm its acceptance ,' she said. 'The school will consult without delay with the Education Bureau on the details of the proposed allocation of the school premises and the availability date.' Principal Jens Peter Green recently said that the school, which is now spread over three sites, was facing 'an acute shortage of space'. 'We have a waiting list in the English stream and now, all of a sudden, we have a noticeable increase in German-speaking students seeking places at the school.' Long waiting lists at many international schools and high demand from parents have fuelled runaway inflation in school debentures in recent months, with asking prices on the second-hand market soaring to as much as HK$3 million. Parents and business leaders have warned that high prices and difficulty in securing a place at an international school are putting talented professionals off coming to Hong Kong. A spokeswoman for the Education Bureau said: 'The increasing demand for international school places cannot be fully addressed by the allocation of a couple of school premises. 'But continued effort will be made in the provision of more places through various means, including the use of other vacant school premises if found suitable.' She said the School Allocation Committee had taken the quality of the applications into account in its recommendations on the two buildings, and factors such as demand, student mix and the schools' proposed investments. 'The committee was convinced that the applications by the German Swiss International School and Singapore International School were the most deserving,' she said. Another vacant school building in Tsing Yi would soon be awarded to a school-sponsoring body for an international school offering a Montessori curriculum, she added. The School Allocation Committee has taken more than six months to decide what to do with the buildings housing two schools in Tsing Yi, which are also set to close because of falling pupil numbers.