ESF $500,000 Nomination Rights, would you pay?

  1. #1

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    ESF $500,000 Nomination Rights, would you pay?

    Just interested to know people's thoughts on this. $500,000 is quite a huge sum of money to pay, especially when it is non-refundable.


  2. #2

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    Sep 2012
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    Hi - is this like a debenture for ESF? Is it refundable if you don't get a place?


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by fionaaust1
    Hi - is this like a debenture for ESF? Is it refundable if you don't get a place?
    All information is on here ESF Nomination Rights Scheme | English Schools Foundation. It's a debenture, but only 150 a year for all ESF schools (not PIS) for all year levels (1 through 13) so it's only a handful of places per school (14 schools and 150 spots is about 10 spots per school for 6 or 7 year levels, that's not even 2 per year level on average per school). Siblings and children of teachers will still have higher priority. I think there is a deposit of $50k (which you'll get back if you fail interview) and once you pass the interview you have to pay up the additional $450k.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by MommyTo3
    All information is on here ESF Nomination Rights Scheme | English Schools Foundation. It's a debenture, but only 150 a year for all ESF schools (not PIS) for all year levels (1 through 13) so it's only a handful of places per school (14 schools and 150 spots is about 10 spots per school for 6 or 7 year levels, that's not even 2 per year level on average per school). Siblings and children of teachers will still have higher priority. I think there is a deposit of $50k (which you'll get back if you fail interview) and once you pass the interview you have to pay up the additional $450k.
    Thank-you.. for explanation...makes a little clearer and yes as you put it not so many places once spread out across all the schools. The joy of HK Schooling!

  5. #5

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    >> yes as you put it not so many places once spread out across all the schools

    However, another way of looking at this - if you consider that the ESF has 12,500 odd students, and in 10 years time if the debenture / rights scheme exists as is, 1500 students will be nominated students, accounting for 10% of the population.


  6. #6

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    When the head of the English department at Hong Kong's Baptist University interviews overseas candidates for a new teaching position, some applicants will find themselves at the receiving end of some rather blunt advice."I am going to advise people if they have kids to think very hard before they come," said Associate Professor Hans Ladegaard. "I will probably be very frank and say 'Don't come because you can't afford it'."
    Ladegaard, a Danish father-of-three who arrived in Hong Kong in 2005, is particularly well qualified to give advice. As head of the ESF (English Schools Foundation) Concerned Parents Group, he has battled in vain for years against the rising cost of schooling in Hong Kong.
    Now, with international school places in short supply and the government-subsidised ESF introducing a new HK$500,000 Nomination Rights scheme that gives children priority placement, he believes the battle is all but lost.
    "We have been talking to deaf ears," he said. "Senior management is certainly not interested in what we are saying and the same is true of the government and the people we have seen on the LegCo (Legislative Council) education panel.
    "We are disillusioned because things are moving in the wrong direction but there isn't much we can do about it. The concerned group is still here but we are dormant. We are under no illusions that we can accomplish a lot because we are fighting against the odds."
    Ladegaard said he was "not surprised but saddened" by the introduction of the HK$500,000 Nomination Rights scheme. "It is uncalled for," he said. "It seems to be another step towards privatisation.
    "It is catering to the rich. Affordability used to be one of the pillars of the ESF. They used to be schools where lower middle-class families could get their kids in if they couldn't access the local curriculum.
    "Now, you can't get your children into ESF schools, and even if you can get them in, you can't afford it. There seem to be more and more schools catering to the rich and there seems to be nowhere for ordinary people to send their children.
    "We know of a number of parents who have left - people who have their own companies, small and medium-sized businesses, parents who have found they just can't afford it anymore.
    "It's sad, isn't it? You have talent. You have people who want to be here and who want to work for Hong Kong and then eventually they give up because there is nowhere for their children to go. It is going to have a long-term impact on Hong Kong. A lot of people won't come here because it's just not possible."
    The multi-million dollar scholars|HongKong Focus|chinadaily.com.cn
    In some ways I am in agreement, but in others I think the whole ESF argument is moot.

    There is schooling and there is affordable schooling. Plenty of expats, English speaking and non-English speaking, send their children to local schools. There is no stigma against it, so why is the plethora of public schooling options never given consideration in these arguments?