A seasoned member of a citizens' consultative committee claims that when you have a popular school within a certain constituency, there's no shortage of willing hands. The carrots bring them in by the droves. However, it had been observed that the parents soon drop out after their children are successfully placed. "We should not allow the system to be abused like this," he said.
So, instead of priority for their children in schools near their homes as well as in the constituencies, the People's Association (PA) is now trimming the privilege to just schools within the constituency. With the kind of electoral boundaries drawn up by the Elections Department, school can now be more than 1-2 kilometers away from home in spite of all the apple polishing. Volunteers will also have to satisfy two full years of faithful grassroots work, instead of just one token year of servitude. PA says the changes were made to ensure only "deserving" grassroots and district councillors will be entitled to special treatment.
Time will tell if the attendance at election rallies will be adversely affected. After all Primary I priority rules may be just the tip of the iceberg, there must be lots of other goodies we have yet to read about.