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Children who have joined the Primary One Admission (POA) System for 2016 but have not yet secured a discretionary place can take part in the Central Allocation process by making their choice of schools on either Saturday (January 30) or Sunday (January 31).
"By participating in Central Allocation, these children will be allocated a government or aided primary school place," a spokesman for the Education Bureau said today (January 25).
"The School Places Allocation Section of the bureau has sent letters to the parents concerned inviting them to make their choice of schools at a specified Central Allocation Centre. Each centre will operate from 9.30am to 12.30pm and from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on January 30 and January 31."
"A completed Choice of Schools Form must be returned to the same centre on either of the two days," the spokesman said.
"Parents who have not yet received the invitation letter should call the School Places Allocation Section at 2832 7700 as soon as possible."
He added, "According to the calculation based on the existing data, we anticipate that in order to meet the demand for school places in Central Allocation of POA 2016, the provisional number of students allocated to each class will temporarily increase to 30 in School Net 73 (Yuen Long West), 31 in School Net 74 (Yuen Long East), 32 in School Net 84 (Tai Po), and 28 or 33 as appropriate in School Nets 80 and 81 (North). As in the past, the actual number of places for allocation will be adjusted subject to the actual demand for Primary One (P1) places. The Education Bureau will update the relevant webpage as necessary. Furthermore, it is projected that the demand for public sector P1 places will reach its peak in the coming two years and then decrease. The schools mentioned above will be provided with additional resources to ensure the learning effectiveness of students."
Parents who have recently moved or have plans to move in the near future are required to inform the School Places Allocation Section as soon as possible so that they can make school choices in the POA School Net where their new home is located. Parents should fill in the actual residential address of their child. If a false address is given by parents to secure a P1 place for their child under the POA System, the application will be rendered void and the P1 place allocated will be withdrawn.
The bureau has put in place a monitoring mechanism to verify the residential addresses of children as given by the parents. Random checks of applicant children's addresses are also being stepped up. The public are encouraged to report suspected cases of individuals using a false address to the School Places Allocation Section by calling the hotline at 2832 7700. As in previous years, the bureau will take appropriate action against false address cases.
For enquiries about the procedures for Central Allocation, please call the bureau's 24-hour automatic telephone enquiry service at 2891 0088.
Central Allocation is composed of two parts. Part A, which takes up 10 per cent of the P1 places earmarked for Central Allocation, is for unrestricted school choices. Parents can choose up to three government or aided primary schools anywhere in Hong Kong. Part B takes up the remaining 90 per cent of the P1 places earmarked for Central Allocation. Parents of applicant children residing in the school net concerned are to select schools from the "Choice of Schools List for Central Allocation" of their school net, while parents of applicant children residing in the Mainland are to select schools from the "Choice of Schools List for Central Allocation (For Applicant Children Residing in the Mainland)". Parents should fill in the Choice of Schools Form in order of their preference.
The computer-programmed Central Allocation will first process the school choices in Part A and then the school choices in Part B. For oversubscribed schools, the order of priority in allocating places will be determined by random numbers generated by the computer for individual applications. This is to ensure fairness to all applicant children.
For applications for participation in POA 2016 after January 31, parents need to complete the necessary procedures with the School Places Allocation Section of the Education Bureau. The Education Bureau will separately arrange P1 places for the applicant children in June 2016.
The results of Central Allocation are scheduled for release on June 4.
Ends/Monday, January 25, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:30
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