ESF Financial Support to be phased out?

[testuser]

In the news today.

The government is considering telling the English Schools Foundation that its funding may be phased out, despite a campaign launched by the ESF for an increase in its annual HK$283 million subsidy.
According to a paper drawn up by the Education Bureau and to be debated in the Legislative Council on Monday, ESF schools may also be required to sign contracts assuring the government that they will maintain high standards of governance.


Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung yesterday described ESF's funding issue as a problem arising from a historical legacy, which needed to be resolved.

Under his bureau's proposals for funding the ESF, options include maintaining some form of subsidy but also migrating ESF schools towards "eventual self-financing".

Schools receiving financial support will be subject to "a time-limited service agreement" to ensure governance and financial accountability. It is not clear how frequently the agreement will be reviewed and renewed.

"The unique role of the ESF has to be justified such that we can ring-fence the case of the ESF and to forestall any similar claim for government subvention from other private international schools," the discussion paper states.

The proposals fly in the face of appeals by the ESF and parents for an increase in the subsidy, which has been frozen for the past decade.

Is this just some silly brinksmanship game being played by the ESF and the government?

 

[testuser]

Various papers being presented at the Education committee's meeting on the 11th.

The file - ed0711cb2-2291-4-e.pdf? does a pretty good job in presenting the govt's case. interesting reading to see how badly the ESF management is viewed from the outside. (A concern shared by many parents...)