Zenith education foundation failed to consider ethical issues

I refer to the failure of the operators of the Topkids kindergarten to secure the lease renewal from its landlord, Fortune Real Estate Trust, at Kingswood Villas, Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long.

It was outbid by Zenith International Education Foundation.

This group was aggressive in its actions, by offering a higher rent to take the existing site from its rival.

It think Zenith and Fortune reit are treating the running of a kindergarten as if it is purely a commercial business, without considering ethical issues.

Zenith should be emphasising the didactic nature of education, above all else, to its young pupils and to society, but this is not the message it is sending with its actions in this controversy. And when I see something like this happening, I do not see how developers can argue that there is no real estate hegemony in Hong Kong.

Parents of other kindergartens must now fear that more landlords will follow suit, ignoring the principle of corporate social responsibility and that they will place education at the end of their list of priorities.