'Kindergartens Need More Govt Money To Survive'

The Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers on Tuesday urged the government to increase the amount of money it gives in subsidies to kindergartens by between 20 and 40 percent.

Nancy Lam from the federation said many kindergartens are struggling financially because subsidies are calculated on the basis of how many children they have and the numbers enrolled have been falling.

"Many kindergartens are facing a loss of students because of the falling birth rate, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and emigration," she said.

"Our survey shows that they lost one-fourth of their students on average this year. We hope the government can recognise how serious this problem is."

Lam said that of the 229 kindergartens which responded to the federation's survey last December, 60 percent said they would cut down on staff now the government has stopped giving out a grant set up to help schools survive the pandemic.

The federation urged the government to provide additional subsidies to each school every year. It's also urging the authorities to relax rules on approving tuition fee increases by subsidised kindergartens.

_____________________________