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Students advised to check before enrolment

The Education Department advised students to check whether an educational establishment in which they intend to enrol this summer is registered with the department under the Education Ordinance.

A spokesman for the Education Department said under the Education Ordinance, an institution, organisation or establishment which provided education to eight or more students at any one time or 20 or more students during any one day is required to register with the department.

"To enable students or their parents to easily verify a school's credentials, schools are required to state their registration or provisional registration number on any advertisement," the spokesman said.

Students should be particularly cautious with institutions which operate a chain of centres under the same name in various districts but with only some of the centres or courses properly registered.

"A school that operates without registration may jeopardise the studies of its students," the spokesman said, adding that there is no control as to the safety of the premises, sanitary conditions and teacher qualifications.

"Furthermore, the public are reminded that only bona fide Secondary 5 students of registered schools approved to participate in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination may sit for the examination as school candidates," the spokesman pointed out.

He said schools were required to display on the notice board the registration certificate showing the name of school in English and Chinese, address and registration number and a fees certificate in respect of the class, tuition fee per instalment and number of instalments.

By looking at the registration and fees certificates, the spokesman said, students would know whether the institution or centre they intended to enrol in had complied with requirements set out in the Education Ordinance or not.

Students or parents are welcome to check with the Education Department's District Education Offices to find out if an educational establishment is registered with the department.