Drug rehab school plan still alive, says Education Bureau

A drug rehabilitation school's application to use a vacant school campus in Mui Wo is still under consideration, the Education Bureau says.

The bureau, the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau and the Social Welfare Department were jointly assessing Christian Zheng Sheng College's request to use the school premises, a bureau spokeswoman said.

The drug rehabilitation college on Lantau Island applied to the bureau in December 2006, asking to be allowed to use the vacant Heung Yee Kuk Southern District Secondary School in Mui Wo.

The school, with a capacity of 60, now has 110 students and aims to expand its capacity to 200 places.

About 14 young drug addicts demonstrated outside the Legislative Council building yesterday to submit a petition to Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. College principal Chan Siu-cheuk said: 'I shook hands with Mr Tsang and invited him to visit our school site, and he smiled at me without a reply. The chief executive in fact expressed interest in visiting us months ago after learning our college has been troubled by overcrowding through the South China Morning Post.

'The Education Bureau told us there was no government policy to give a vacant school site to a private school, and our application for a new campus still has not received a definite answer from the administration.'