Critics decry Hong Kong kindergarten policy proposals as 'fake free education'
Proposals to government fall short of granting fully subsidised classes, parents and others say
A new report giving recommendations for free kindergarten education has been overshadowed by worries about inadequate subsidies for rent, teaching and other areas that will still result in parents shouldering part of the financial burden.
Parents, educators and politicians say the proposals do not answer their demands for fully free education that will at the same time safeguard the salaries and career paths of teachers.
Among the recommendations submitted by government advisers yesterday is a partial subsidy for whole-day kindergarten sessions, capped at 30 per cent above the proposed subsidy for half-day sessions.
That would affect Zhuang Mu-ying, a mother of three who said she had to enrol her youngest boy in a whole-day kindergarten because she needed to work so the family did not have to rely solely on the HK$18,000 per month her husband earned at a pharmacy .
The 21/2-year-old boy will start lessons in September at First Assembly of God Church Tin Chak Nursery in Tin Shui Wai, where the family lives.
"It is really unfair to us," Zhuang, 29, said. "I don't know if I should keep looking for work or send him to a half-day school."
They also had to pay primary school fees for their nine- and six-year-old sons, she said.