Lou Pak Sang (center)
The director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), Lou Pak Sang, hopes that the schools planned for the Canidrome land meet the potential growing demand for school places.
DSEJ’s non-tertiary education committee held its third plenary meeting of the year on Friday. On the sidelines of the meeting, Lou informed the media that Macau will face growing demand for school places in the coming three years, due to the increasing birth rate.
“This year, the available school places are basically sufficient, and there is a small surplus. But according to birth rate statistics, [DSEJ] estimates that in the upcoming three years, the number of school places needed to match demand will be big,” declared Lou.
“This is a significant challenge. […] In the short term, we hope that schools can increase the number of students per class.”
According to Lou, the baby boom will create demand for an additional 11,000 school places.
Currently, on average, each class has 28 students. If schools can increase the number of students per class to 33 to 35, then they will “alleviate a great pressure [falling upon the education authority],” said Lou. According to him, the education authority hopes to increase school quotas by 10 percent.
Previously, it was announced that 20 percent of the Canidrome, roughly equivalent to 8,000 square meters, would be used for education facilities. Currently, DSEJ has not yet clarified the number of schools to be built on the land plot.
“Right now, we don’t have that information. […] We have to conduct an analysis first,” said Lou, adding that “it is still too early to say if three schools or four schools are going to be built. It depends on the scale of each school. […] It might also not be infeasible to build more schools. We have to wait for the urban planning committee’s [discussion].”
When considering which schools should use the Canidrome land, DSEJ will give priority to schools included in the government’s “Blue Sky Project,” or schools which are in demand for more spaces.
In addition, Lou answered the media’s questions about the teaching of the Chinese national anthem in schools, saying that DSEJ will hand out supplementary teaching materials across all schools in Macau, including international schools.
Moreover, when questioned over whether DSEJ deputy director Leong Wai Kei was still suitable for her position due to recent controversy over her statement about homosexuality, Lou noted that Leong has “contributed to DSEJ’s works” and is capable of continuing in the post.
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