issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains weasel words vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information . such statements should be clarified or removed . march 2009 this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . february 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message english schools foundation address 25 f 1063 king s road quarry bay hong kong district information established 1967 1967 chief executive officer belinda greer chair of the board carlson tong schools 22 students and staff students 17 565 1 teachers 1 251 1 other information website www.esf.edu.hk english schools foundation traditional chinese simplified chinese transcriptions standard mandarin hanyu pinyin y ngj xu xi o xi hu yue cantonese jyutping jing1 gei1 hok6 haau6 hip3 wui6 2 esf chinese transcriptions standard mandarin hanyu pinyin y ngj yue cantonese jyutping jing1 gei1 the english schools foundation traditional chinese abbreviated esf or is an organisation that runs 22 educational institutions most of which are international schools in hong kong . it is the largest international educational foundation in asia . 2 3 it was founded in 1967 with the passage of the english schools foundation ordinance under which it is mandated to provide without regard to race or religion a modern liberal education through the medium of the english language . 4 the foundation receives an ongoing subvention from the hong kong government . it is also funded through a tuition fee . in the 2013 2014 academic year these fees stood at hk 90 000 per annum for primary school students and hk 101 400 per annum for years 7 11 secondary school students hk 106 300 for years 12 and 13 . although all of the esf schools are comprehensive and non selective students in the foundation have generally done well academically with 90 % of their graduates going to different universities around the world . the schools have progressively improved their facilities especially in ict with the help of donations from parent teacher associations . the current chief executive of the english schools foundation is belinda greer . contents 1 schools 2 academics 3 government subsidy debate 4 student demographics 5 ordinance 6 controversies 7 see also 8 see also 9 references 10 external links schools edit sha tin college king george v school main article list of english schools foundation schools schools that are part of esf include discovery college renaissance college hong kong island school king george v school hong kong sha tin college south island school west island school beacon hill school bradbury school clearwater bay school glenealy school kennedy school kowloon junior school peak school quarry bay school sha tin junior school esf abacus international kindergarten esf international kindergarten hillside esf international kindergarten tsing yi esf international kindergarten wu kai sha esf international kindergarten tung chung opening in august 2016 . 5 academics edit education in hong kong education bureau exam assessment authority pre school education primary education hkaat secondary education hkhle hkcee hkale a level 334 scheme hkdse jupas eas subsystem higher education english schools foundation university grants committee grant schools council heung shing other hong kong topics history geography politics economy culture hong kong portal v t e its schools have traditionally provided a curriculum based on the british curriculum but the organisation is undergoing a transition to a more international curriculum from the international baccalaureate starting with changing the year 12 and 13 programme from the british gce a levels to the international baccalaureate diploma programme from september 2007 . the esf has received its best mean ib diploma score amongst its 909 students graduating in the class of 2015 in its history at a 35.5 out of a possible 45 . 14 of these students received a perfect score of 45 which fewer than 0.01 % of ib diploma students receive . 6 there were 160 perfect scorers in 2015 worldwide . 7 government subsidy debate edit unlike most other international schools in hong kong schools run by the esf receive an ongoing subsidy called a subvention from the hong kong government . the reason for this is historical and lies in the foundation s statutory basis . until recently it was generally accepted that this subsidy was fair and that the foundation had a reason to be subsidised . there has been some controversy regarding subsidies to the foundation . the fiscal deficit suffered by the hong kong government following the asian financial crisis forced the government to cut costs . there were also allegations that the foundation has misused funds on entertainment and over extravagant recruitment procedures . a report criticising the esf s use of funds was published by the hong kong government in november 2002 resulting in a continuing debate about whether the subsidy should be cut or even suspended . the subvention was cut for several years in line with a general reduction in government expenditure and then frozen . the esf has recently addressed concerns about governance by putting forward a new ordinance that will change the way the organisation operates . the foundation imposed a refundable capital levy of hk 25 000 per student in 2011 . 8 the changes culminate in the phasing out of government s annual subsidy worth hk 283 million with effect from 2016 tapering to zero in 2028 29 . 8 after a comprehensive internal review of financing needs the foundation decided to introduce one off non refundable levy starting in the 2015 16 school year . the will be set at hk 38 000 for first year students for with lesser amount for those joining higher age groups hk 3 800 will be charged for year 13 entrants . the esf expects to raise an extra hk 50 million every year through the levy for the replacement of schools . 8 in 2014 government subvention comprised 17.7 % of esf s operating income . tuition fees made up 74 % while the balance was generated through interest income renting out property and other minor sources of income . 1 student demographics edit the ethnic groups of the foundations students include local residents of hong kong europeans and other nearby asian countries . citation needed as of 2016 update the students came from over 60 countries ; the esf schools except kindergartens are required to have at least 70 % of their students hold foreign passports . 9 as of 2016 esf had a total of 17 000 students . 9 as of 2013 they had a total of 13 000 students . 10 as of 2016 70 % of the students have parents who are permanent residents of hong kong . 9 ordinance edit esf was established by government ordinance in 1967 . there were no amendments to the ordinance until 2008 . shortcomings in the governance of the organisation were highlighted by the legislative council public accounts committee in january 2005 . the esf carried out an extensive consultation process to produce an amended ordinance and regulation which provide for a number of changes to the governance and management of esf . some of these are in response to the shortcomings identified by the public accounts committee . the most substantial changes are to the structure and composition of esf s governing body and committees including the creation of a new board of governors to replace the foundation . the new ordinance was approved by legco in april 2008 and came into effect shortly afterwards . controversies edit the esf was involved in the controversial 2015 hong kong heavy metal in drinking water incidents . amid the scandal in september 2015 esf tested the water in its schools collecting over 300 samples . four of the esf schools were found to have a high amount of lead in their water supplies . 11 the news was announced through the esf newsletter . it stated that one sample found in each of king george v school hong kong sha tin college south island school and west island school was found to have a higher amount of lead than the government s guidelines and that all the other schools had water that passed the inspection . the newsletter did not specify where the source of the water containing high lead were in those schools . the individual schools have halted the use of those water sources pending an investigation . 12 see also edit education in hong kong see also edit list of english schools foundation schools references edit a b c esf annual report 2013 14 pdf . hong kong english schools foundation . 2014 . customer services officer the english schools . retrieved 2008 09 18 . cardiff liquidoffice selected by english schools foundation to automate forms and business processes . retrieved 2008 09 18 . the english schools foundation ordinance pdf . bilingual laws information system . department of justice . retrieved 1 february 2016 . our schools english schools foundation . retrieved 2015 11 20 . westcott ben and feng frank july 8 2015 http www.scmp.com news hong kong education community article 1834341 perfect scores put hong kong students top world perfect scores put hong kong students on top of the world south china morning post july 6 2015 http www.ibo.org news news list 141831 dp graduates celebrate 2015 exam results 141 831 dp graduates celebrate 2015 exam results international baccalaureate a b c lau kenneth 6 june 2014 . esf to launch non refundable levy . the standard a b c lau jessie 2016 08 13 . hike in hong kong families turning to international schools amid fears of pupil burnout . south china morning post . retrieved 2016 08 23 . yeung linda 2013 07 28 . overpricing english medium schools could hurt hong kong s future say critics . south china morning post . retrieved 2016 08 22 . print title a very expensive lesson cheung elizabeth september 14 2015 . is your children s school affected four hong kong esf schools have lead in water above recommended guidelines . south china morning post esf schools to raise grade 1 tuition fees by 20 % in 2016 . hong kong economic journal . 22 september 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to english schools foundation . official website v t e english schools foundation kindergartens abacus international kindergarten sheung wan international kindergarten tsing yi international kindergarten wu kai sha international kindergarten primary schools beacon hill school bradbury school clearwater bay school glenealy school jockey club sarah roe school kennedy school kowloon junior school peak school quarry bay school sha tin junior school secondary schools island school king george v school sha tin college south island school west island school all through schools discovery college renaissance college special needs schools jockey club sarah roe school retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title english schools foundation & oldid 736498831 categories educational organisations in hong konghidden categories articles needing additional references from march 2008all articles needing additional referencesarticles with weasel words from march 2009wikipedia articles in need of updating from february 2014all wikipedia articles in need of updatingarticles containing traditional chinese language textarticles containing simplified chinese language textarticles containing chinese language textall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2016articles containing potentially dated statements from 2016all articles containing potentially dated statementscommons category with local link same as on 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