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Mimi Lau

Drastic measures pledged to prevent closure of secondary schools as population falls
Teachers are threatening to go on hunger strike if the Education Bureau insists on closing secondary schools due to a falling student population.
President of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union  Cheung Man-kwong said  the union would call on teachers to starve and take other industrial action if  talks with the government broke down.
The union met  Education Secretary Michael Suen Ming-yeung  this week,  with both sides agreeing on a reprieve of up to a month  on a decision over closures.
The move was aimed at allowing time for the government to consider whether an alternative  to closing secondary schools was feasible.  The PTU and Mr Suen are due to meet again next month.
The government previously said that schools admitting fewer than 67 students to Form One at the start of the academic year  this month would not be allocated Form One students next September.
The bureau completed an official headcount of school enrolments on Tuesday, which had been intended to identify which schools had failed to meet the threshold.
The bureau declined to confirm exactly how many had fallen short, saying only it was 'not more than four schools'.
'The negotiation with the government is only halfway so we can't draw any conclusions ... We are not optimistic at this stage,' Mr Cheung said. 'The government should know that we will definitely fight back if the talks break  down.'
On  Wednesday, the PTU met representatives of 15 schools threatened with  closure, following  the talk with Mr Suen.
Mr Cheung said members were concerned and felt  they must plot alternative strategies pending the outcome of the negotiations.
'Of course we hope the negotiation with government would turn out well because we don't naturally like to starve ourselves,' he said.
Shi Hui Wen Secondary School  in Tuen Mun and HK & KLN CCPA Ma Chung Sum Secondary School  in Sha Tin  confirmed they only recruited 52 and 45 Form One students respectively this year.
Mr Cheung  visited the two schools to ask  teachers and parents  whether they would join the strike.
'The main purpose of the strike is to relieve the plight of these two schools. We need to get a consistent view. So far I can see they are very united,' Mr Cheung said.
'We must ensure the survival of these two schools. It's not fair for these two schools to bear  all the consequences of falling student enrolment in their  districts.'
In  July 2004, educators staged two  hunger strikes to protest at job cuts of  more than 300 surplus teachers.
The union's deputy director for rights and complaints, James Hon Lin-shan,  said their  goal was to ensure no schools would be told to shut down, as it would open  the floodgates for  school closures.
The union said the government must agree to freeze school closures for one year to buy time for  both sides to come up with a  solution to address the falling student population without having to shut schools down.
Suggested solutions included the government reducing the cap on maximum class sizes according to the number of Form One students in individual school districts.
The PTU also urged the government to allow schools to have just two Form One classes, down from the current requirement of three.
Form One intake dropped by 5,000 this year. It was the first major fall in a decline set to continue for five years and which has played havoc in the primary sector.
A total of 135 primary schools were affected by the school consolidation policy and 70  have already closed their doors for the last time.
Under the secondary school places allocation mechanism this year, the government allocated a maximum of 38 students to  each class.
Schools are required to secure a minimum of three classes and attract a Form One intake of  67 students.
This threshold is set to drop next year  when the government will allocate a maximum of 36 students per class, bringing the minimum Form One intake to 61.
The bureau said earlier that schools failing  to meet the minimum Form One  requirement would be asked to choose from a list of development options, as the size of government funding will be cut. They can choose to become private schools, merge with others or request their school sponsoring bodies inject additional resources.
The union will meet the media on  Monday to discuss  four secondary schools in Tai Po and Sha Tin that had their funding cut three years ago after failing to meet a minimum intake  requirement.
This year, these schools had only two classes of Form Three students but  were told by the government that they could not operate Form Four next year because they did not meet the minimum class requirement.
Under the new senior secondary curriculum, the bureau requires schools to operate on a minimum of three classes to give students a broad range of subject options.
A bureau spokeswoman said it had nothing to add to Mr Suen's statement earlier this week that the government would consider the union's views and continue negotiations.



Teachers threaten hunger strike