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mini storage 　　Just as competition was keen for discretionary Primary One school places, with the success rate hitting a 16-year low, Hong Kong and Shenzhen reached deals to change the nature of classes for children with Hong Kong parents in Shenzhen, expanding their student sources to cover "double-not" children who are not born to Hongkongers. How far the measure will ease the demand for school places in Hong Kong depends on how many "double-not" parents are drawn by their quality and quantity to "give up Hong Kong for Shenzhen".　　There were over 52,000 students applying in this year's discretionary Primary One placement with only 42 percent admitted, hitting a 16-year low. The rate has been falling in each of the recent six years.　　The cause of this phenomenon was the rise in the fertility rate of Hong Kong women during the period. Added to this was the "double-not" children fad, leading to increased competition with not only many people failing in their applications for traditional government and subsidized elite schools but also some of the schools in North District that was hard hit by school closures in the past could only admit 20 to 30 percent of the applicants, a success rate far lower than the Hong Kong average. The success rate was actually as low as 18 percent in an elite primary school most popular with the parents of cross-border students in the North District.Removing barrier on "double-not" children's studying in Shenzhen　　"Double-not" children being Hongkongers, they should enjoy equal rights to education. Studying in Hong Kong from childhood will help them integrate into Hong Kong's society and nurture their sense of belonging. Many parents of "double-not" children hope their children can be educated in Hong Kong earlier, thinking that its education is better than that of the mainland while school fees are subsidized by the government as well as adapting to the education system and acquiring proficiency in English will help in getting their children into a university in Hong Kong or overseas.　　On the other hand, some "double-not" parents do not want their children to travel long distances across the border every day at such a young age and feel that it is more convenient to take care of them in Shenzhen. But the current education system in Shenzhen has set an insurmountable barrier that forces them to send their children to Hong Kong for schooling.　　"Double-not" parents come to Hong Kong to give birth because many want to have their second child in Hong Kong, evading the one-child policy in the mainland in addition to trying to get a permanent Hong Kong residency for their children. These children born in Hong Kong have no "hukou" in the mainland and are not eligible to enter local public primary schools.　　As for the two private schools in Shenzhen admitting children of Hongkongers, and the classes for Hong Kong children attached to several primary schools, they can bridge with the SAR's secondary education system and students can take part in the Secondary School Places Allocation, but for the child to be admitted, at least one of the parents must be a Hongkonger. Even if the rule is broken and a "double-not" student is admitted, if it involves an extra child, the parents will have to pay the authorities a hefty penalty for having an extra child before the school can admit the student. The school fees in these private schools are comparable to some DSS primary schools in northwest New Territories.It still takes quality to win parents' confidence　　The agreement Hong Kong signed with Shenzhen's education department on Monday, changed "classes for children of Hong Kong parents" to "classes for students with Hong Kong residency" to formally open up the door to "double-not" children. Also as the mainland is planning to relax the one-child policy, with parents no longer required to pay a penalty for having extra children before their children are admitted, the "double-not" parents now have an extra choice.　　This is a good direction of development but the school places Shenzhen can provide are still very limited and many parents have doubts about the quality of classes for students with Hong Kong residency, worried that they cannot properly bridge to the academic requirements in Hong Kong schools, so some such classes are not yet full. Unless these classes can win the confidence of parents, most of the "double-not" parents there will still choose to have their children study in Hong Kong.　　The kindergarten school place panic this year shows an enormous demand for primary school places in future. The education authorities still have to take care of the demands of parents of cross-border and local students. And the trend of parents applying to DSS primary schools as "an insurance" for their children will not change much.Published in the Sing Tao Daily on November 26Vocabularyphenomenon (n) —— 現象integrate (v) —— 融入nurture (v) —— 培養proficiency (n) —— 精通insurmountable (adj) —— 不可踰越的residency (n) —— 居留權hukou (n) —— 戶口（戶籍）hefty (adj) —— 巨額的comparable (adj) —— 相若的formally (adv) —— 正式地Useful Termsfertility rate —— 生育率school closure —— 殺校cross-border student —— 跨境學童sense of belonging —— 歸屬感one-child policy —— 一孩政策Did you know?　　Hong Kong and Shenzhen signed co-operation agreements on education, tourism and technology on Monday. After meeting with Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said the education agreement will allow seven schools in Shenzhen to admit children born in Hong Kong to mainland parents. She said these seven schools provide classes for Hong Kong children, and their curriculum can be linked to Hong Kong schools. These children can take part in Hong Kong's Secondary School Places Allocation. But the new arrangement does not mean Hong Kong schools no longer welcome cross-boundary students. It simply allows these children to choose to study in Shenzhen, instead of being cross-boundary students. On the development of Qianhai, she said the authorities agreed to form a task force to study allowing Hong Kong construction and engineering professionals and enterprises to start doing business there.1. The word _____ in the first paragraph is the opposite of "aggravate".2. The keen competition for Primary One places was partly caused by the _____ in the fertility rate of Hong Kong women.3. In the passage, the word _____ means "fine".4. Not many "double-not" parents will have their children study in Shenzhen because ___________________.5. According to the last paragraph, the _____ of parents applying to DSS primary schools as "an insurance" for their children will continue.Answers1. ease2. rise3. penalty4. its school places are still very limited and they have doubts about the quality of the classes5. trend翻譯︰George港深新協議 難解北區學額荒　　小一自行分配學位競爭激烈，成功率創下十六年新低之際，香港和深圳達成協議，改變深圳港人子弟班的性質，把生源擴及雙非童這些非港人子弟。這一措施對本港學位需求的紓緩程度，視乎其質和量能夠吸引到多少雙非家長「棄港擇深」。　　今年小一自行分配學位，有五萬二千多名學童申請，當中只有四成二獲得取錄，是十六年來最低，最近六年，成功率是一年比一年低。　　這個現象的原因，是本港婦女生育率近年有所改善，加上雙非童熱潮，導致競爭加劇，不僅申請傳統官津名校向隅者眾，連以前是殺校重災區的北區，部分學校都只能夠取錄到兩、三成報讀學生，成功率遠比全港平均為低，有特別受跨境學童家長歡迎的北區著名小學，成功率竟低至一成八。撤雙非童留深讀書關卡　　雙非童身為港人，應該享有平等的教育權利，他們自幼在港讀書，有助融入本港社會，培養對本港的歸屬感。不少雙非童的家長，希望子女早點來港接受教育，覺得本港教育比內地好，而且學費有政府津貼，及早適應本港學制和學好英語，有利日後升讀本港和海外大學。　　另一方面，則有部分雙非童家長，不欲子女年紀尚輕，便要天天長途跋涉跨境上學，覺得留在深圳照顧比較方便，奈何現在深圳的教育制度，向他們設下難以踰越的關卡，他們逼不得已送子女來港讀書。　　雙非父母來港產子，除了為子女取得香港永久居民身分外，不少人是為了逃避內地的一孩政策，來港生第二胎。這些在港出生的嬰孩，並沒有內地戶籍，不符合入讀當地公營小學的資格。　　至於深圳兩所民辦港人子弟學校，以及另外幾所小學附設的港人子弟班，可以銜接本港中學教育制度，學生可以參加中一派位，但是要父母至少一方是港人者才能夠報讀，就算破格收取雙非學童，如果是超生者，父母要向當局繳交巨額罰款後，學校才獲准收錄。這些民營學校的學費，水平與新界西北區一些直資小學相若。贏家長信心尚要靠質素　　昨日港深教育部門簽署的協議，把「港人子弟班」改為「港籍學生班」，為雙非童名正言順打開大門，而且在內地打算放寬一孩政策的背景下，毋須家長繳付超生罰款後才准學校取錄，雙非童家長因此多了選擇。　　這是一個好的發展方向，但是深圳當地所提供的學額仍然相當有限，而且不少家長對港籍學生班的質素存疑，擔心未能夠好好銜接本港學業水平需求，部分港籍學生班至今收生未滿額。除非學校贏得家長信心，否則當地大部分雙非家長，仍然會選擇安排子女來港就讀。　　今年的本港幼稚園學額恐慌，預示了日後對小學學額的龐大需求。教育當局仍然需要理順跨境學童和本地生家長的訴求，而家長為子女報讀直資小學作為後備「保險」，趨勢不會怎樣改變。 刊於十一月二十六日《星島日報》儲存