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Popular primary schools in Hong Kong saw a long line of last minute applicants over the weekend after results for this year's allocation exercise were released.
St Matthew’s Lutheran School, for instance, had dozens of parents queuing outside the school compound.
The school had aimed to pass out 180 forms, but as of Saturday morning, less than 20 were left. The application process resumed yesterday (4 June).
La Salle Primary School, another elite school in the city, also experienced a similar situation.
Hong Kong parents unhappy with results to this year’s exercise can try their luck at getting spots in preferred schools in the so-called door-knocking process.
This, despite an increased success rate of students getting one of their first three choices in the central allocation exercise – 69.9% of 32,171 children were granted top spots this year, as compared to last three years’ low of 67.6%, according to the Education Bureau.
Parents have to register their children at the allocated schools on Tuesday or Wednesday.
One primary school principal noticed a slight drop in the number of students joining the central allocation exercise this year.
“More pupils have chosen to study in schools in Shenzhen this year,” Chu Wai-lam told the South China Morning Post.
This was due to a new policy which allows Hong Kong-born children to study in public schools in neighbouring Shenzhen, China.
Over in Singapore, the Ministry of Education has just announced that the primary one registration exercise for enrolment in 2019 will open from 28 June to 31 October.
Parents in Singapore are also no less anxious than their Hong Kong counterparts, with some going to extreme measures to secure spots at elite schools.
Early this year, parents of one student was fined $9,000 for lying about their address to enrol their child into a prestigious school.
In 2014, the parents officially changed their registered address at the neighbourhood police post to skew the location-based primary one allocation exercise in their favour.
The following year, they lied to the school’s vice principal and used the false address to register their child.
They were found out in January 2016 when the school realised about the fake address and subsequently reported the case to the police.
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