[Archive] Demand and supply of kindergartens

Asked by : The Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong

Replied by : SEM

Question :

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the respective numbers of kindergarten places and enrolments in each school district in each of the past five school years ;
   
   
2. of the respective numbers of kindergartens set up and closed down by school operators in each school district in each of the past five school years ; and
   
   
3. given that there has been over-provision of kindergarten places in the territory for a number of years, whether it will set down the upper limit of kindergarten places for each district in accordance with the number of school-age children in the district, and approve applications for setting up profit-making and non-profit-making kindergartens in each district in accordance with the upper limit?

Reply:

Madam President,

1. The number of kindergarten places and enrolment figures in each education district from the 1995/96 to 1999/2000 school years are detailed at Annex 1.
   
   
2. The number of kindergartens starting or ceasing operation in each education district from the 1995/96 to 1999/2000 school years are detailed at Annex 2.
   
   
3. All kindergartens in Hong Kong are privately run. Kindergartens can commence operation as long as they meet the general requirements for school registration (e.g. the school principal and teachers possess the necessary qualifications, the school premises satisfy the requisite standards, etc). Government has never imposed any restriction on the number of kindergartens or the districts in which they can operate. Applications for registration from both profit-making and non-profit-making kindergartens are processed according to the same set of criteria.
   
   Eligible non-profit-making sponsoring bodies may apply to Government for the allocation of kindergarten premises in public housing estates. When developing a new public housing estate, the Housing Department will estimate the population of children within the kindergarten age group (aged 3 to 5) to determine the number of kindergartens required in the estate. According to the existing planning standards, the Housing Department will reserve one bi-sessional kindergarten classroom for every 67 children aged between 3 and 5, and a standard kindergarten has six classrooms. To enable all school-aged children to attend kindergartens within the estates where they live as far as possible, the actual provision of kindergarten places in a newly developed housing estate is in general slightly higher than the estimated demand. For illustration, the Housing Department will build two kindergarten premises if the estimated demand comes up to about 1.6 kindergartens.
   
   Given the supply of kindergarten places in each district, children should be able to attend kindergartens closest to their home, thus sparing them the time and trouble of travelling a long distance to school. At the same time, sponsoring bodies or kindergarten operators can choose to provide education services in any district which they want. Government does not therefore have any intention of setting an upper limit on the number of kindergarten places in each district based on the population projection of school-aged children in the district.