The education chief came under pressure yesterday from legislators from across the political spectrum to extend the kindergarten vouchers scheme to include profit-making preschools.
'On this issue, all parties agree,' Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan said. 'The amount involved is not that great. I think if you agreed to extend the scheme, we would all embrace you.'
Mr Cheung accused the Education Bureau of using a 'carrot-and-stick approach' to force profit-making kindergartens to switch to non-profit status to remain eligible for the vouchers.
Under the scheme, introduced at the start of the current academic year, parents are given a HK$10,000 voucher that can be put towards fees at approved kindergartens.
Profit-making kindergartens are eligible for the programme during an initial three-year transition period, after which they must become non-profit to stay in the scheme.
Eighty-four of 173 private independent kindergartens have switched to non-profit status since the introduction of the scheme.
However, Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung, who took up his post in July, told members of the Legislative Council education panel he intended to stick to the system as laid down by his predecessor, Arthur Li Kwok-cheung.
