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"The setting up of a central placement team at headquarters is to improve the previous arrangement," Mr Kwan said.
"Under the new arrangement, District Education Officers who cannot find a place for immigrant children in their respective district or encounter problems with unco-operative school heads will bring the case to the attention of the central placement team. The team has vacancy information about schools in every district in the territory and is able to make a quick decision on where the child should go to attend school."
"The department will then contact the school to which the child is supposed to go. If the school head agrees, admission arrangements will proceed immediately," Mr Kwan continued.
"Should the school head disagree, Education Department staff will explain the decision, stating why there is no better alternative.
"If the school head still refuses without a good reason, the Director of Education will have to exercise his powers under the Code of Aid to place the immigrant child in the school."
Schools may appeal to the Advisory Committee on Pupil Placement against the decision. The committee, membership of which is mainly non-official, will consider the justifications submitted by the school and then advise the Director of Education.
Mr Kwan said factors such as the pupil's language abilities and the convergence of curriculum would be taken into account in arranging school placement.
"There are bound to be differences in curriculum between China and Hong Kong. Perfect matches are sometimes out of the question," he said.
"I hope that schools will understand this and co-operate with the Education Department. We should first solve the problem of the child not attending school. Schools can then provide counselling and other forms of assistance to help the child integrate into the local education system.'
Meanwhile, the Education Department will, from February or March, distribute a newly published pamphlet to Chinese immigrant arrivals at Lo Wu. The pamphlet, complete with a postage-paid reply envelope, will help collect information about immigrant children.
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