補習-Angry parents call on `locusts' to stay home

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Angry Sheung Shui parents have launched an e-mail campaign to demand that mainland children be denied places in local schools.

A second group of netizens went as far as to use the derogatory term "locusts" to describe mainlanders.

The rising tempers of parents are the result of a report suggesting there will be a shortage of 900 Primary One places in the North District for the new school year beginning in September.

This means that many Sheung Shui children may have to travel to Yuen Long or even Sha Tin to attend school.

Local parents blame the shortage on the young mainlanders - who were born in Hong Kong and have right of abode here - coming across the border to attend classes.

The government earlier estimated that 40 to 50 percent of the 200,000 such students whose parents are mainlanders will study in Hong Kong, but Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim admitted on Monday that the number could be higher.

A parent group called "Northern District Mothers" took to the online forum Baby Kingdom to attack Ng for saying he hopes parents will accept the possibility of their kids going to schools in other districts.

They also launched an e-mail campaign calling on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Ng to stop mainland students from coming.

"I want to send all mainland children away," said a parent named Rilley. Another parent, named Happiness, said: "Our children have to travel long distances to attend school because of the government's policy failure. Does Ng expect to solve the problem just by asking parents to accept the situation?"

Another asked why the government doesn't build a special school for cross-border students.

Among uglier comments, some parents took out their frustration on the mainland children.

"I am Hong Konger, not a mainlander," one netizen wrote on Facebook.

"Ask the locusts to turn back to their kingdom."

Another demanded: "Aren't there schools in Shenzhen? Why must the locusts steal from us when they are not even taxpayers?"