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HK students to boycott classes over spending cuts
2003-11-13
HONG KONG - Students from four universities in Hong Kong vowed on Thursday to boycott classes for a day next week after the government insisted on pressing ahead with a plan to cut education spending to reduce a gaping deficit.The row is the latest in a string of controversies dogging the unpopular administration of Beijing-backed leader Tung Chee-hwa, who faced his worst political crisis in July when half a million people staged a protest denouncing his rule. "We are very unhappy with how the government failed to consult us before making such important decisions," Kenny Tsang, a student leader from the City University of Hong Kong, told Reuters after a meeting with Financial Secretary Henry Tang. Students from the Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will join City University students in the boycott. "Mr Tang had reached a consensus with university chiefs for a 10 percent spending cut for 2004/05 and he indicated that he would make no further concessions," said Lo Hong-yin, a student leader at the Chinese University who attended the meeting. "We want a meeting with (Education Secretary) Arthur Li to ask him what the government plans to do about education spending from 2005 to 2008. We hope there will be no more cuts for 2005 to 2008," Lo said. Tang has the unenviable task of balancing the city's books, but has promised a smaller budget cut for education than the average 11 percent cut for other sectors for fiscal year 2004/05. But some students leaders said that was not good enough. "We cannot accept any cut. Education is an investment, it should not be seen as an expenditure," said Wong Wai-tong of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "As it is, the education budget has not been adequate and our school has been forced to cut language classes in recent years." The row with the city's universities offers a challenge to Tung's administration, shaken by protests over its plan to enact a controversial anti-subversion law in July. It was forced to withdraw the bill and three ministers resigned. Still, the government insists everyone must pitch in to help close the deficit, now at HK$74.3 billion (US$9.5 billion). Tang has pledged to balance the books by 2008/09. Education spending takes up almost a quarter of total expenditure and has risen steadily. It hit HK$49.3 billion in fiscal year 2003/04, against HK$36.7 billion in 1997/98. Reuters
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