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Mainland kids heighten tension on resources
Concern on shortage of primary school placements in the northern New Territories is rising as the Education Bureau is to hand out application forms on September 5 for admission, the China News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The ruling of the Chong Fung-yuen case, which the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) made in July 2001, granted that any babies delivered in Hong Kong are entitled to the right of abode as long as both parents are Chinese citizens. Barrister Gladys Li, a founding member of the Civic Party, represented Chong in the case.
In the face of growing concern over this issue, the Hong Kong government had requested hospitals in the city not to accept delivery of mainland residents’ babies unless either parent is a local resident, effective from 2013.
But the city will inevitably have to brace for the impact. According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, of the 620 babies born in 2001, neither of the parents was a local resident. The number jumped to over 35,000 in 2011, bringing the total number to over 170,000 in the past decade.
Since the Chong Fung-yuen case, many such children have resided in Hong Kong without living together with their parents for a long time, leading to a number of problems. Sze Lai-shan, a social worker at the Society for Community, said the society had been receiving an increasing number of requests for help from these parent-less families.
As most parents are working full time on the mainland, Sze said their income is often too low to support their children’s expenses in Hong Kong, therefore they will need a guardian in the city to apply for social security. Due to visa constraints, most parents are unable to spend time with their children leading to parenting problems.
Lack of their parents’ companionship also brings obstacles to learning and other developments. The elderly grandparents in Hong Kong — who are often asked to look after the children — are too undereducated to offer assistance.
Law Chi-kwong, associate professor of the Social Work and Social Administration Department at the University of Hong Kong, said the influx of mainland children has pushed the capacity of education and health care over the edge. Demand for primary school placements was expected to increase sharply in the next six years, while the emergence of mainland babies in the past has overwhelmed the infants’ intensive care units at public hospitals.
He added the expansion of maternity wards across private hospitals had resulted in an imbalance of manpower of specialist doctors.
Wong Kwan-yu, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said the sector is yet to feel the full impact of the mainland children, but he believed up to 30,000 children will return to Hong Kong for kindergarten in the next couple of years, while older children might also cross the border for admission into secondary schools. As the parents will not be easily accessible, he said school will struggle to keep them informed on the children’s progress.
Chu Kwok-keung, head of Ta Ku Ling Ling Ying Public School, added that teachers are also worried about the skill discrepancies of the mainland students, like their capability in English. That will increase workload of teachers, who will have to go the extra mile to narrow the gap between mainland and local students.
High alert has been enforced at the border control points to stop any pregnant mothers from entering the city for delivery. Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said while there is no administrative measure for compromising the babies’ legal eligibility to get the right of abode in Hong Kong, however, there are few options left for a long term cure.
Provided that the society has agreed to solve the right of abode problem, the best solution would be an amendment of the Basic Law, but the government will have to be very determined to go through all the procedures. And even if the government initiates the process right away, the amendment bill of the city’s mini-constitution will only reach the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March 2014.
Asking the NPC to interpret the concerned article is an alternate remedy, but Tai warned that the anticipated controversy will only deepen social conflicts and drag on the matter. He also noted that the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has declared that he was reluctant to take the interpretation route.
Tai said the long term effectiveness of the border control measure, which was put in place since February, is yet to be determined.
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