Education System in HK
...l increase the burden of the family. Recently, Hong Kong is undergoing the economic recession, so the high school fees really cause a difficulty for many families. Due to the financial problem, some poor students will loss the chance of entering into DSS schools. Besides, it is obvious that it will enhance the labeling effect of renowned schools. Hong Kong people emphasize the reputation of the school. That renowned school that participated in the scheme enjoyed both the benefits of aided school and private school. It is because the DSS schools still can receive the subsidy from the government. Besides, they can also set as high school fees as private schools. However, due to the reputation of those famous schools, they do not need to worry about the number of students apply for their school. Many students will apply for these DSS schools despite the expensive school fees. So, the DSS schools can choose the best students and the labeling effect of renowned school is enhanced. They will become super school in the future and the publics put an eye on them. For instance, St Paul College and St Paul’s Co-Educational school will join the DSS in the coming academic year, many parents believed that they are the best school. In addition, the existing private schools will be affected inevitably. Most of the parents believed that the academic results of private schools are bad and the fame of those private schools is not good. However, they set up a higher school fees than the other aided school. It is because they provide better teachers and better facilities. So, some students who cannot enter their original schools in Form 4 and Form 6 due to their poor performance in the open examination. They will choose private school in order to continue their studies. But, many renowned schools have joined the DSS nowadays. Students can have one more choice. Private schools seems difficult to compete with DSS schools as those renowned schools have good reputation and long history. Parents and students also have confidence on them. Besides, DSS schools set up as high school fees as private schools. They can allocate more funds for facilities and recruiting better qualified teachers. Some teachers from private schools may attract to go to DSS schools, as DSS school will have better salaries and welfare as well as better prospect. If the selling point of private schools also disappears, it may affect present private school seriously. Furthermore, the existing aided schools also will be affected under the DSS. DSS school will set up funding or scholarship, which help the poor students who have outstanding academic results. Since the school fees are very expensive, some poor students in aided school may not have the ability to afford it. The DSS schools will subsidize them in order to attract outstanding students. So, they can maintain their good academic level. Besides academic outstanding students, those students who are good at music or sports, they may also be attracted to DSS schools. So DSS schools will be very comprehensive and they become ‘Super Schools’ in the eyes of the parents. The present aided school will become lower level even they have long history. Polarization of schools will occur under DSS. Some DSS schools claim that they will subsidize some poor students, so poor students can also enter DSS schools. However, if we calculate more deeply, we can see that many poor students still cannot enjoy the benefits. The mean cost unit of a student in aided school is $295,13 in 2001. DSS schools’ school fee should not greater than 266% of the unit. DSS schools can receive $29,513 subsidies from the government foe each student if the their school fees is within the restricted percentage. In addition, if the school fees are between $19,675 (66% of the cost) and $68,864 (266% of the cost), the schools earn one more dollar, it needs to reserve $0.5 for the scholarship or school fees subsidy scheme. As a result, the amount of scholarship or school fee subsidy scheme will be from $0-$24,595. We assume a student get the full subsidies, he still need to pay $44,269 for his school fees. Compared with those aided school, their school fees still have a wide gap. Therefore, some poor students still cannot be benefited from the scholarship scheme. Moreover, the DSS violates the principle of ‘equal educational opportunities’. Since the implementation of nine years free and compulsory education in 1978, the trend of education system becomes more equal. Hong Kong students have the equal opportunity to receive education. However, the DSS affects the ‘elitist’ education or ‘ Meritocracy’. Students who come from high-income group will have a greater chance to enter DSS schools. Therefore, the chance for poor students enter DSS schools will be deprived. Furthermore, the DSS creates a number of social problems. Firstly, it is believed that the social mobility will be slow down. For the past thirty to forty years, the education system in Hong Kong functions well in boosting social mobility. Under this atmosphere, many poor people believed that studying hard is the best way to improve the standard of living. But, the DSS will change this traditional thought. Prestigious schools and good schools will also join DSS very soon. The students who come from poor family cannot afford to pay the school fees. They need to apply for lower level school despite their ability. Since those prestigious schools will have a bright future, it is the way for grass-root people to upgrade their standard of living through entering good schools. As mentioned above, we can see that the DSS will hinder social mobility and modernization. Besides, the DSS will widen the gap between the rich and the poor. The gap between the rich and the poor is already a social problem in Hong Kong. People in high-income group have great purchasing power. In contrast, poor people even cannot maintain their basic living standard. But the DSS will make this social problem deteriorate. As only high-income group can enter good or famous schools, the rich will become richer and the poor will become poorer. Social discrimination and social divide occur under the scheme. It may lead to social instability. Additionally, more and more poor cannot improve their living. They will demand for the government subsidies or social welfare. In the long run, it will increase the burden of the government. In conclusion, having considered all the pros and cons, I do not agree the present DSS can improve the quality of education in Hong Kong. From the social point of view, the DSS will create more social problems such as social divide or social instability. Besides, it will also widen the gap between the rich and the poor. It make students cannot receive the same quality of education and violate the principle of equal educational opportunities. It is undeniable that the education system in Hong Kong has some problems and needs improvements. However, the principle of improvement should provide a better and fairer education for students. I think the DSS cannot fulfill these objectives and it should be revised in order to fit the Hong Kong education system. Bibliography Introduction & Background Information The Directed Subsidy Scheme (DSS) was proposed in the Education Report No.3 in 1988. At that time, it was only a blue print and the content of the scheme is very brief. In May 1990, four month before the deadline for application for joining DSS for the academic year 1991-1992, the scheme was being introduced in more details. The introduction of the content of DSS was not smooth actually. From the first official announce on the details of DSS on 31st May 1990 to 1st Sept 1991, there were a number of amendments or revisions of term in DSS due to some problems. So, the content of the scheme was not finalized although it was under a long period of discussion. Since some content did not include necessary information on arrangements, for instance, the arrangement for progression of Form three students to Form four in DSS schools (Ming Pao, 13 June 1990). Besides, DSS needed to be amended because of the cold response from schools. As a result, the financial content was revised in order to attract schools joining the scheme. In September 1991, the Education Department announced that the arrangement of finance for aided schools joining DSS would be revised again in September 1992 (South China Morning Post, 10 Sept, 1991). This allowed aided schools which had turned DSS to keep their government subsidies for the next six years. In addition, those DSS schools could still charge high school fees to students at the same time. It also allowed schools to apply for a capital assistance loan at nil interest up to 50% of the cost a standard aided school to upgrade its facilities. Furthermore, an extra month of subsidy would be paid for any immediate improvements introduced by the school on joining DSS. However, only nine schools applied for DSS in 1991. After several years, St Paul’s College applied to join the DSS. But the Legco Finance Committee rejected the financial arrangement. Therefore, St Paul’s College withdrew its application. Recently, a number of famous schools also applied to join the DSS as they thought the DSS would benefit them. This issue arouses the awareness of the publics. The concept of DSS is of a scheme under which the government can subsidized and encourage the growth of a strong private school sector. It allows schools have the maximum freedom with regard to curricula, fees and entrance requirements. In this essay, both merits and shortcomings of the DSS will be discussed. Consider all the factors, I do not agree with the implementation of DSS policy. Merits of Direct Subsidy Scheme DSS has several numbers of merits and these merits will be analyzed in this essay. Firstly, the scheme increases the autonomy of the schools. Nowadays, the government controls the curriculum of secondary schools. But those DSS schools can decide their own curriculum in order to benefit students more. Schools that participated in the scheme can also have the freedom of choosing students that satisfy their requirements. They can choose the students who are good at sports or music in order to make the school become more comprehensive. DSS schools can also choose the students who have good academic results. Hence, they can maintain their high level of academic results and increase the schools’ prestige. The most important thing is that they can set the school fees without the control of the government. For instance, St Paul’s College and St Paul’s Co-Educational School have also joined the DSS. In 2000-2001 academic years, the school fees for each student in Advanced Level per month is about $1200. However, the school fees for each student will become $6000 after they have joined the scheme. They can use the extra money to input and improve facilities. Besides, the most significant benefit of DSS schools to student is that the class size can be reduced. Nowadays, the class of a normal school is about 40. When we compared with the class size in other countries like Singapore, it only has about 25-30 students in a class. Actually, the class size of Hong Kong is very large. However, taking St Paul’s College as an example, the class size of each class in Form one will be reduced from 40 to 30 students after they joins the scheme. So, the proportion of one teacher to students is smaller and teachers can pay more attention to each student. In addition, the DSS increases the parents’ choice. Besides aided schools and private schools, parents now can choose schools from DSS. As DSS schools will provide a better facilities and have their own curriculum. So parents can choose the most suitable schools for their children. Furthermore, schools can have a consistence education system. Recently, the government has implemented a lot of education reforms such as the mother-tongue education. This new education system has become a hot issue among the publics. Some policies itself is quite confusing and it is very difficult for schools to follow those policies. Schools participated in DSS have full autonomy on administration system. So they can decide their own education system such as medium of instruction. Hence, DSS gives chance to schools to have a more stable and consistence education system. Moreover, the wages and welfare of teachers can be better. Due to the full autonomy of the scheme, schools can set the wages of teaches and do not have to follow the wage that is controlled by the government. DSS schools can set a higher wages in order to attract better quality teacher. Besides, they can set the wage depend on teachers’ performance. In order to maintain the stability of teachers, DSS schools can provide better welfare for their teachers and ensure they will not leave soon. The government stipulates all the teachers and staff in school should be retired after 60 years old. However, DSS schools can ask teachers who are over 60 years old to stay due to their freedom. So, more experienced teachers will be stayed in school and it will benefit students the most. It is undoubted that DSS schools will allocate more resources to improve the facilities and learning condition. For example, St Paul’s College will further improve the air-conditioning and swimming. Besides, more foreign teachers will be employed and all classes will have the opportunity of being taught by native-speakers. Shortcomings of Direct Subsidy Scheme In view of the above, we can see that the DSS seems to have a number of merits. However, the scheme has a lot of shortcomings actually. It is undeniable that it will lead to rise of school fee drastically. As DSS schools can set up the school fees without the control of the government, so they will increase the school fee in order to have more resources and improve the environment. Resources improvement is the selling point of DSS schools. As a result, many parents are still willing to pay for it especially those renowned schools. For example, St Paul’s College and St Paul’s Co-educational will join the scheme in the coming year, their school fees for each students is $48000 per year. ( Apple Daily 12 March 2002). Although the school fee is so expensive, there are still many students apply for it. The drastic rise of school...