Hong Kong  - Hundreds of expatriate and Chinese parents have signed a petition protesting fee rises of more than 1,000 US dollars a month at English schools, a news report said Monday.

Fees at the English School Foundation, which runs 20 government-subsidized, English-curriculum schools in the former British colony, have risen sharply in the past three years, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

Annual tuition fees for primary school pupils have risen from 47,300 Hong Kong dollars (6,053 US dollars) to 58,100 Hong Kong dollars since the 2005-2006 school year.

Meanwhile, secondary school fees have gone from 78,600 to 89,250 Hong Kong dollars a year, the newspaper said.

Expatriate children make up around 50 per cent of all students, and parents complain they have no option but to send their children to the schools because local schools teach only in Chinese.

The schools are also increasingly popular with parents of local Chinese children who see English as the key to international universities and better job prospects.

When Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the administration introduced a controversial "mother tongue" teaching policy in local schools, phasing out English in favor of Cantonese.

Three hundred parents have signed an online petition against the fee rises at the English School Foundation facilities, and the petition is to be sent to the foundation and Hong Kong's education bureau, which subsidizes the schools, the Standard reported.

A foundation spokesman told the newspaper that the foundation was aware of the anger among parents but said the fee increases were necessary to pay for staff salaries and an expansion of the school network.

Hong Kong is home to tens of thousands of expatriates from Britain, Australia and the United States who rely on foundation schools as well as non-subsidized international schools for their children's education. (dpa)