Hong Kong schools must stop squeezing parents for every last cent
Kelly Yang says pricing out the middle-class with exorbitant fee hikes will only render schools and the city poorer in the long run
All around Hong Kong, families are feeling the squeeze. Salaries are stagnant – yet school tuition fees just keep growing.
I’m all for paying for quality education. But when kindergartens are increasing their fees by 50 per cent and some are now charging nearly HK$200,000 a year, it begs the question: are we nuts?
A lot of people assume that, when it comes to education, the more expensive the better. They’re wrong. Education is not a consistent commodity. It changes depending on a range of variables, like who’s delivering the product (that is, the teachers) and who’s receiving the product (students).
HK$10,000 for kindergarten meals? Costly lessons for parents as 800 schools ramp up fees
When you jack up the price, your whole product changes because, suddenly, some students are getting priced out – more often than not good students, but also important students; the kind who add to a school’s socio-economic diversity, who bring interesting experiences and insights to enlighten other students.
Education is not a luxury. It’s a basic right
