A couple who took their son out of school have rejected a placement at another school, saying it required students to spend too much money on books and wear shorts in winter. Pun Chi-fai, 49, and his wife, Leung Suk-fong, 52, were to receive their sentences yesterday. They were found guilty in December of breaching the Education Ordinance by refusing to send their son back to school. Pun removed his son, then nine years old and studying in Primary Two, from the Institute of Education Jockey Club Primary School last year, citing poor management and accusing the principal of fraud. Speaking outside Fanling Court, Pun, a factory worker, said the alternative school the Education Bureau had offered was inappropriate for his son. He said his son, who has a nose allergy, cannot attend a school that required students to wear shorts in winter and to buy 30 books costing a total of HK$1,150 over a 90-day period - which he found too expensive. Magistrate Don So Man-lung's adjourned the sentencing to call for further reports to determine whether the two are taking steps to return the boy to the education system. Despite the conviction and So's instructions for Pun and Leung to discuss their son's schooling with the Education Bureau, the couple had not yet sent the boy to any school. So noted yesterday that according to a probation officer's report, the pair had stopped social workers from seeing the boy. Outside court, Pun insisted that he and Leung intended to send the boy back to school, but he also said they would appeal their conviction for not having done so in the past. He said they would send the boy back to school once they found an 'appropriate' one. He did not state his prerequisites. Their son, now 10, stopped going to school in February 2008. Leung, who had a Form Five education, has been teaching him at home.
