|
An increasing number of Chinese parents are buyinghomes in areas associated with prominent schools to boost theirchildren's education, but, despite paying top dollar, many of themare facing bitter disappointment instead, reports China Newsweek. With the new academic year approaching, numerous real estateagencies in Beijing are launching campaigns touting good localschools to promote sales. On top of that, developers are alsopromising access to Beijing's best primary schools throughspecially-built branches right in the neighborhoods. But are theseschools really what they say they are? Broken promises "Our children need to go to school!" cry homeowners at a realestate project by China Resources Land Ltd (CR Land), a powerfulproperty developer. The project is located near the West 2nd Ring Road of Beijing and,even though prices are sky high, apartments there sold out withinweeks when the developer promised to build a branch of BeijingPrimary School in the community. (The school is the only one in thecapital bearing the word "Beijing" in its title, and is widelyknown for its high level of education.) CR Land claimed in its advertisement that the school would acceptits first batch of pupils in September of 2011, yet locals say theschool was far from ready by that time. Han Renjie, a local homeowner who worries about his child'seducation, says the playground of the site was piled with sand,stones and bricks less than four months before the new semesterbegan. During the International Labor Day holiday earlier this month, Hanand other locals gathered to discuss getting the governmentinvolved in the issue. Since April 13, a group of nearly one hundred homeowners, includingHan, has complained about the problem six times to the XichengDistrict government and education commission, yet at the time ofwriting they still had not received an official response. Han says he spent over two million yuan (US$316,200) to buy hismodest 50-square-meter apartment mainly because he wanted his childto go to Beijing Primary School. It appears that his money may havebeen wasted. Spurious quality According to a survey conducted by China Realty Research Center andSohu.com, more than 90 percent of Beijing homebuyers chooseneighborhoods near prominent schools; of those people, 60 percentwith plans to upgrade to larger apartments rank their children'seducation as the top priority. Unsurprisingly, more and more property developers are eyeing thepotential profits of such a demand, and are rushing to buildcommunities with attractive educational resources. In recent years, prices of real estate linked to prominent schoolshave soared; a survey conducted by China Newsweek reveals that theaverage price of such housing in Beijing is currently about 40,000yuan (US$6,324) per square meter, and such properties are always inshort supply. Chen Guoqiang, deputy director of the China Real Estate Society,says "education-concept" communities were first built near schools,but the latest fashion is to build branches of famous schoolswithin the communities themselves. But even though the facilities are similar to their parent schools,teachers at the branches are almost always less experienced.Beijing Primary School has several branches in the capital, butonly one or two are actually managed by the parent school, whichmeans most of its branches benefit their students in name only. Parents are inevitably disappointed after finding this out, butface many difficulties in changing schools for their childrenquickly, says an official from a branch of a top Beijing primaryschool. Embarrassing situation While many people may be scrambling to buy education-concept homes,others are trying to escape what they say is a trap. According to Long Ge, another homeowner duped by the CR Landproject, the number of people finding out the facts about branchschools is rising; many have already made plans to relocate or paylarge sums to enroll their children in good schools outside thecommunity. Similar situations also exist at other projects. In June 2009, ahomeowner from an education-concept community in Chaoyang Districttook the project's developer to court when a promised nine-yearcompulsory education was cut down to only six years of secondaryeducation. To find a good primary school, the homeowner had to either moveagain or pay a sponsorship fee that would guarantee nothing, sincethere are many requirements for students to enter good schools inBeijing. After a year and a half of legal wrangling, the homeowner finallylost the lawsuit, but the local government came up with a solutionto satisfy the homeowners by sending their children to a localpublic primary school. This brought about a good result in the end, says the homeowner'sattorney, but many people are still struggling with similarsituations. In Beijing, developers often make misleading verbalpromises concerning education, so real estate buyers must becautious when choosing their future homes, he warns. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Cardboard Display Box , Business Brochure Printing Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Gift Packaging Boxes.
Related Articles -
China Cardboard Display Box, Business Brochure Printing Manufacturer,
|
