ESF Subvention: Please show your support

中文版本

To:   All Parents of ESF Schools 
CC:  All Parents of Private Independent Schools and Kindergartens (for information only) 

Dear Parent,

ESF Subvention: Please show your support

I would like to thank those parents who responded to our previous letter regarding the review of the ESF subvention. Thank you for your views and constructive suggestions which are very helpful to us in thinking about the next steps.

As we explained in the last letter, the outcome of our recent meetings with Education Bureau (EDB) officials was not very positive. Since we are hoping that the issue will be discussed again by the Education Panel of the Legislative Council (LegCo) on 9 January 2012, it is the right time for the ESF community to raise its voice so that we will be heard.

To show your support, please write to EDB officials, LegCo members and the media as soon as possible. Tell them why you think that your children's education must be subsidised; make your story as personal as possible.
 
The following points may be useful:

• The Government has a duty to support high-quality English-medium education through subvention to maintain Hong Kong’s position as a “World City”.  The prosperity of Hong Kong depends on the availability of this kind of education to those families who have made Hong Kong their home and the international business sector.

• The Government’s policy states that children having the right of abode in Hong Kong are entitled to 12 years’ free education. Around 70% of ESF students have a parent who is a permanent Hong Kong resident. So Government subvention is not a privilege of ESF but a form of universally recognised Government support for the education of Hong Kong children.

• ESF students whose parents have made Hong Kong their home are entitled to government subvention at the same level as that being enjoyed by students in the local school system. In 2010-11, DSS primary school students receive HK$35,200, 98% more subvention than ESF primary students and DSS secondary school students HK$43,890, 85% more.

• If subvention were not increased, or if it were reduced or abolished, in order to maintain the quality of our schools, ESF would be forced to bridge any funding gap by increasing income from parents through fees or other means, and controlling costs as we are operating in an inflationary environment.

• Children with individual needs must be properly cared for with government support, and ESF is the only English-medium group of schools with integrated special educational needs services.

• We also urgently need the government’s assurance of continued assistance with capital funding to finance the renovation and/or replacement of our ageing school building portfolio as ESF alone cannot finance it.

I do hope that you will be able to lend your support to this campaign. I attach a list of the contact details of EDB officials, LegCo Members and key media.

Yours sincerely,

Carlson Tong
Chairman