Kindergarten teachers hail plan, fear job loss
(China Daily HK Edition)
Updated: 2006-10-24 11:41
Most early childhood educators welcome the introduction of education voucher
scheme but many fear they might lose their job, a survey revealed yesterday.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang in his policy address said the government would
introduce the education voucher system next year to relieve the pressure on
parents.
The survey, conducted by Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, found
that 82.8 per cent of them said they welcomed the education voucher scheme.
But 77.9 per cent of the 326 early childhood educators interviewed were
worried that their kindergartens would be closed because of financial
difficulties as the voucher scheme would only benefit non-profit making
kindergartens that charged not more than HK$24,000 tuition fees a year for
half-day schooling and HK$48,000 for full-day classes.
More than 80 per cent of the respondents feared that those working in
profit-making kindergartens would lose their jobs.
A kindergarten principal Ada Mak feared that tuition fees might be increased
after the introduction of the scheme.
Teachers of kindergartens which enjoy HK$30,000 government subsidies for each
15 students would be delinked from a standard pay scale.
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