More questions than answers on merger

The 64-year-old Rosaryhill School is set to fade into history following a deal to merge with the privately run Dalton School Hong Kong.

Once ranked a local elite school, Rosaryhill is well known for its Catholic background.

It is more than coincidence that a number of local top schools have Catholic affiliation as missionaries have a long tradition of taking pride in teaching the young.

It is not immediately known whether or not the Rosaryhill-Dalton merger includes a change of ownership in Rosaryhill's prime Stubbs Road campus.

If considered purely from a commercial perspective, it is absolutely fine for the Dalton management and Dominican Missions that runs Rosaryhill to reach any agreement as long as it is done within the law and if both sides are content with the terms.

After all, Hong Kong is still a free economy, right?

Dalton is rather new to the local education scene. The school, which opened in 2017, was co-founded by Everbright Charitable Foundation, Sun Hung Kai & Co Foundation, CITIC Capital Charitable Foundation Limited and asset management company Value Partners.

It is reported that, following the merger, Dalton will move from its current address on Hoi Fai Road in West Kowloon to Stubbs Road to occupy Rosaryhill's campus.

Unlike publicly listed companies, private entities are not required to make public details of their deals. Anyone outside of the deal may never know whether the Dominican Missions has sold the site to Dalton or merely leased it for an undisclosed sum.

That said, the commercial nature of the agreement does not spare the two education providers the moral obligation to be accountable to the affected students, teachers and parents.

The way the merger announcement was made caught by total surprise even those who were supposed to be closely involved in school management and supervision.

This has raised more questions than answers.

Rosaryhill principal So Pui-ting's statement challenging the decision questioned whether the school was in a dire situation as called out by the school's supervisor Hyacinth He.

The school's situation may not be ideal but, according to So, it is certainly not dreadful.

It is extremely rare in local education history that a school's two top administrators would be in such serious conflict with each other with their accounts of the situation.

The merger announcement has left everyone at the school stunned. As the Education Bureau expressing grave concern afterwards, it must be asked whether or not Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin had advance knowledge of the merger.

Surely, discussions must have taken place for a good while before an agreement could be struck.

If it is common to hold secret negotiations in the commercial world. However, it would be unusual if the minister was not aware of the situation as it is a major event in education.

It would be difficult to imagine she was not informed.

As said, Dalton is a private school - and its investment in the Stubbs Road site may be viewed as a sign of its confidence in demand for private education due to the various talent visa schemes.