The controversial drug rehabilitation center, the Christian Zheng Sheng College, has been granted public funds to expand its existing Chi Ma Wan Peninsula campus.

There was little alternative given that the college's effort to relocate its overcrowded campus to an abandoned school in Mui Wo touched off a firestorm among local villagers.

Efforts to find alternative locations also failed.

Education lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong told reporters at the Legislative Council on Thursday that the government had reached an agreement to fund the expansion.

A makeshift building is to be put up on a 5,000 square meter plot to improve the existing campus.

"This is a transition step for us because we understand the government needs more time to communicate with residents in Mui Wo. The government is also proposing the direction to improve the facilities on our site which will go a long way to improve safety," the college's Principal Alman Chan said.

The safety issue relates to a giant boulder that poses a threat to roll down an embankment into the college's male dormitory.

Residents of Mui Wo, a population of roughly 6,100, have said they want their vacant school reserved for their own children. Since the school closed because of lack of enrolment, local kids have to travel more than two hours a day to attend classes.

With roughly 100 students at the rehabilitation center college year on year, Chan said the expansion will take a long time given they were already at capacity and were forced to hire more teachers to comply with the new city-wide education curriculum.

He said the additional structure will help alleviate demand for bathrooms and cooking facilities with any left space to be taken up for classroom use.

The design plans are subject to the approval of the buildings department.

The campus that opened in 1993 resembles a communal camp. The main access is by boat. Students are responsible for day-to-day chores.

Students who attend the college typically are ordered to the center by the courts. Daily routines start and end with the rising and setting of the sun while free time is limited to about an hour a day.

Genders are strictly segregated, with the women largely kept inside their barb wire-enclosed dormitory.

The campus also teaches vocational skills such as laser engraving and video editing.

Although the private school does not accept any subsidy from the government, public money is given to the school through the Social Welfare Department, amounting to some HK$1 million a month, with about HK$10,000 in dole payments per pupil.

The school fell under the scrutiny of the city's graft busters in 2009 after it was alleged that its parent organization was involved in unsavory investment.

The school was later cleared on any suspicion of wrongdoing, however.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/15/2011 page1)