Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li yesterday expressed dismay and appealed to the educators to look into parents' interests while dealing with the proposed kindergarten voucher subsidy.

The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) had said it would not submit the document on the voucher scheme to the Legislative Council finance committee for funding approval in December.

The decision was taken after the educators disagreed with the five principles that include that subsidy would not be extended to profit-making kindergartens on long-term basis and the government will not draft teachers' pay scale.

"My biggest regret at this moment is that parents' interests have been ignored," he said at a standup briefing of the press yesterday.

"We have put forward a package to our parents, who will be benefited. This package will benefit our little children because the standard of the kindergartens will be raised.

"Now all these have been ignored and I feel unhappy that if we carry on this argument and negotiation, our parents are not likely to get benefit," he added.

The government had earlier decided that profit-making kindergartens would be benefited for two years, but the educators still had reservations.

"Under such circumstances, I think a responsible government must resolve problem before it implements the policy," he said, adding that parents interests would be affected if schools had reservation on the policies.

Li would continue meeting with educators, urging them to accept the five principles.

The matter would be passed to the next government if it was not resolved before June 30, 2007.

Li urged the kindergartens to stop making unreasonable demands.

"The educators should retrospect whether their demands are reasonable and whether they are helping parents. The parents may not get benefit in 2007. Is it fair to them?" he said.