Plan to reopen Mui Wo school rejected

Education chiefs have rejected an application by rural leaders and Mui Wo residents to take over a vacant school site on Lantau that the operators of a drug rehabilitation college want to turn into a boarding school.

But the Heung Yee Kuk and the South Lantau Education Concern Group, which want to reopen the school to serve locals, say the Education Bureau's dismissal of their move is unfair and have vowed to fight on.

Christian Zheng Sheng College, which has faced vehement protests from Mui Wo residents, says it still wants the site and the bureau is considering its request.

Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat handed a proposal to Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung last month to reopen the former New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Southern District Secondary School under the government's direct subsidy scheme. But just days later, on February 8, it received a rejection letter from the bureau. The kuk only announced the rejection yesterday.

A co-opted member of the kuk council, Lam Luk-wing, said the proposal had been rejected even before a formal application had been made.

'We originally planned to hand in a formal application by the end of this month. The proposal is just a draft. Their summary rejection reinforced the view that the Education Bureau has already made their decision to give the site to Zheng Sheng.'