The government’s planning was improper, and many public housing estates were located in remote locations. This newspaper previously reported that Shuiquan O Village in Shatin had withering facilities, and the villagers lived in isolated cities. Earlier, they also reported that the new HOS on Anderson Road was billowing with sand and dust, which was worse than the army. The Queen’s Hill public housing project was completed in phases last year. Queen’s Hill Village and Shan Lai Court were successively occupied, with a population of about 30,000 and about 1,500 school-age children. However, the Education Bureau underestimated the number of school-age children. There were only two primary schools in Queen’s Hill, and there were simply not enough places. to meet demand. Many schoolchildren in the village are forced to cross districts to go to school on the water, which may cause many problems. Even in Fanling District, which belongs to the same school network, the traffic in and out of Queen’s Hill is inconvenient. . The poor facilities of the new public housing have been ridiculed for “Queen’s Hill is a corner, it’s worse than living on an outlying island!”
Queen’s Hill is a large-scale public housing project in recent years, but the Education Bureau has only opened two primary schools nearby, namely The Salvation Army Central Plains Charity Foundation Queen’s Hill School and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Tsang Hin Bei Primary School. Both schools implement small-class teaching. The principal of Tsang Hin Bei Primary School of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals even bluntly stated during the school’s open day that the school will not only accept children from Queen’s Hill. With the limited number of places, the competition becomes very tight.
Schools are far away, parents worry about increased expenses
In addition, Huangyi Building and Huangcheng Building in Queens Hill Village were requisitioned as isolation facilities due to the outbreak of the fifth wave of the epidemic. Residents of the two buildings delayed the assignment of buildings. Some residents delayed their children’s school transfer procedures because they did not have address proofs. Failed to attend two schools in the village. Ms. Guan and her husband work as clerks and maintenance workers respectively, and their monthly income is not much. They and their two 7-year-old eldest son and 4-year-old daughter with special educational needs, a family of four were assigned to Huang Yi Building. However, due to the epidemic situation in late June, her eldest son was sent to other schools in Fanling. She was not satisfied with the result and knocked on the door. In the end, Fengxi Liao Yunchen Memorial School was willing to accept her son. However, the distance between the school and the residence is very far, and it is conservatively estimated that the journey takes nearly half an hour. The family is financially strapped when it is necessary to bear the extra fare, medical treatment to relieve the symptoms of the children, and other expenses.
Ms. Kwan reported the predicament to the Education Bureau, hoping to apply for her son to be transferred to two nearby primary schools to facilitate taking care of him. However, the Bureau only asked the parents to knock on the door on their own and did not properly handle the special needs of their son. In addition to Ms. Kwan’s case, the chairman of the North District Council, Law Ting-de, and the community officer, Hu Jingpeng, also received a large number of residents asking for help. According to their understanding, the two primary schools have already received students, and many residents questioned that the Education Bureau had not reserved enough places for the two schools. Children in the village, causing a large number of school children to study in other schools inside and outside the district.
Education Bureau points out that the increase of school bus service is convenient for residents
The Education Bureau stated that when processing applications for transfer of students who have moved to Queens Hill, they will try their best to arrange students to be admitted to the two aided primary schools in Queens Hill. The bureau has opened additional classes in the two primary schools in due course to a maximum of 5 classes per grade per school. However, the number of students applying for admission to individual classes in September 2022 has exceeded the number of places available in the two primary schools. According to the usual arrangement, the remaining students will be admitted to primary schools with vacancies in the Fanling school network, and when there is no more balance at a certain level of the primary schools in the network, the students will be arranged to be admitted to the adjacent primary schools with vacancies in the Sheung Shui school network.
The bureau continued to say that the public transportation facilities in Queen’s Hill are gradually improving, and many primary schools in the North District will add school bus stops in Queen’s Hill from the 2022/23 school year to facilitate school children. If students and their families have special circumstances, they can submit supporting documents, and the bureau will consider each case individually.Reporter Zhang Junhuan
