Think International School in Hong Kong has been in chaos following last Friday’s (9 November) shutdown of its sister school, Tsung Tsin Think Academy by the Education Bureau.
The Bureau had shut down the academy after it was found to be operating illegally.
Classes at Think International were suspended while its principal devised a plan to move pupils affected by the academy shutdown to the Think’s primary school. About 170 children would be distributed among 11 classrooms at Think International, roughly doubling the class sizes.
Out of concern for the quality of education at Think, some parents are looking to enrol their children elsewhere.
Some parents were worried about overcrowding in the expanded classes, while others were concerned that putting pupils from primary four to six in mixed-grade classes would affect the quality of classes.
To explain the shutdown, principal Lily Choy Lai-yu wrote in an email to parents that the Think group had had a rental agreement with Tsung Tsin Middle School in 2015 to teach its programs at the site. But the bureau ordered the school to shut down as the name “Tsung Tsin Think Academy” had not been officially registered.
Choy cancelled classes on Monday and Tuesday, reported the South China Morning Post. The suspension continued for another day after about 10 secondary teachers at Think refused to renew their employment contracts under Tsung Tsin Middle School’s name.
Tsung Tsin principal Tung Fuk confirmed that this meant the program offered by Think at his school site would be shut down, affecting about 60 secondary pupils. However, eight teachers have decided to enrol at Tsung Tsin and classes would resume the following Monday.