Cheers, tears and dwindling hopes

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Ninety-one percent were allocated their top-three choices, three percentage points down from last year. Students are required to register at their allocated secondary schools on Thursday or Friday. For students who could not get into their ideal schools, “door-knocking” could be the last resort.

But this year, secondary schools could only use one of the two places offered by each secondary class for repeaters who applied for door-knocking quotas. At Yaumati Catholic Primary School, 77 percent of its primary six pupils were allocated to their top choices.

A mother named Lau had tears of joy as her daughter could go to her school of choice, True Light Girls’ College. “She may not be the smartest kid in the class, but my daughter worked so hard these last two years,” Lau said.

Schoolboy Kwok said: “I feel even more excited than the launch of the Tuen Ma Line. I will share the good news with my mother and she would probably buy me a big meal.”

But Chan, Kwok’s father, felt disappointed as his son could not get into his top pick, Baptist Lui Ming Choi Secondary School in Sha Tin. “We will only apply to one or two schools, as many secondary schools in Sha Tin already said they won’t accept door-knocking students this year,” he said.

The primary school’s principal Lourdes Yu Pui-Kam advised parents to manage their expectations when applying for door-knocking quotas while encouraging students to explore their allotted schools’ unique advantages. “We only wrote one or two recommendation letters to students who were allocated to schools that have a big difference between their grades and the school’s banding,” Yu said. Pupils and parents were seen outside the popular boys’ school Wah Yan College Kowloon in Yau Ma Tei – including a schoolboy named Lam.

Lam’s mother felt disappointed that her son was allocated to his 10th choice and said they will knock on school doors. Another boy, Chan, was enrolled in his second choice, but he still wants to try to get into his dream school. “His teacher had told us before that Wah Yan College Kowloon may not be a suitable school for him, but he loves this school so much, so I brought him here today,” Chan’s mother said.

When asked about the quotas being slashed, she said the Education Bureau should have announced the arrangement earlier, so parents could be mentally prepared.