A Hong Kong court has sentenced 13 parents and a businessman to up to 14 months in jail for offering bribes to secure school placements. The guilty parents accused the former ESF employee of taking advantage of their eagerness to enroll their children.

A Hong Kong court has sentenced 13 parents and a merchant to up to 14 months in jail for offering bribes ranging from HK$20,000 to HK$200,000 (US$2,600 to US$25,600) to a kindergarten administrator at the city’s biggest international school group in exchange for enrolments. In earlier mitigation, some guilty parents pinned the blame on Fatima Rumjahn, accusing the former English Schools Foundation (ESF) employee of “taking advantage of the parents’ eagerness to get their children into school”...