Church’s bid to replace HKIS with new school put on hold by Education Bureau

Hong Kong education authorities will not process “at this stage” an application by a US-based church to set up a new international school to replace a top institution being sued for allegedly only serving the “rich”, due to the ongoing legal proceedings.

The Education Bureau on Friday told the Post that it had already received the application from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) to establish a new school.

The church has threatened to evict Hong Kong International School (HKIS), which it co-founded in 1966, from its Repulse Bay and Tai Tam campuses, as part of the lawsuit.

“Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, the Education Bureau at this stage will not handle the application in question or comment on the incident,” a spokeswoman said.

The church has said that if the eviction goes ahead, it will set up a new primary school called Hong Kong Pacific School, which will charge lower fees and not require debentures for priority admission.

Christian Preus, chairman of the synod’s board of directors, told the Post on Friday that the bureau’s decision did not change anything.