TNAG-0669-FCO40-818-Policy-on-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 77

會聯校學台天區新九港

(司公限有)

H.K. & Kowloon Resettlement Roof-Top Schools Association Ltd.

六五〇六六三三:話電 下地號六座十二區新磡頭橫龍九:址會

6, BLOCK 20, GROUND FLOOR, WANG TAU HOM ESTATE,

KOWLOON, HONG KONG.

TEL. 3-366056

(2) Many of roof-tops in various Resettlement Estates are still

vacant. In recent years, due to a drop in the number of students, many roof-top schools have ceased operation and returned the premises to the Housing Department. The deserted roof-tops are thus occupied by undesirable elements and drug addicts, but the Housing Department instead of evacuating them and putting these premises into good use is now trying to impose exhabitant rent on the operators of roof-top schools with the intention of facing these to close down. We are therefore perplexed as to the reasoning behind this move.

(3) All roof-top schools in Hong Kong and Kowloon Resettlement

Estates are non-profit making, charging only a nominal school fee of $9 per month. Quite a number of them besides providing free schooling, also provides free uniform and free text books to help students of poor families. Any way the total amount of school fees collected from a class of 40 students is about $360. This sum is meagre to pay for the proposed rent imposed on them even if all teachers decline to receive their monthly salary. This is in fact asking too much from them.

(4) Roof-top schools were established with the following aims

in mind (a) keep Government accomodate children of school age. (b) provide schooling in the Resettlement Estates for children whose parents could not afford their time to escort them to and from school, being too busy to earn a living. Moreover, kindergartens have also been attached to some roof-top schools. If they are faced to close down, these young children would not be able to have schooling in the nearly areas and allowing them to risk the heaving traffic in going to far-away kindergarten will be very dangerous as they are still too young to take care of themselves. Besides, school fees of kindergartens in urban ares are so high that they would

be beyond the means of the relatively poor families in the Resettlement Estates. This would certainly impose an additional burden on the labouring public.

.cont.