Small classes leads to focused teachers, leading to happier Hong Kong pupils

When Kitty Kwok Ching-yi entered her secondary school in Tuen Mun two years ago, she was not quite used to the attention she received from her teachers.

Her class then had only 22 pupils, compared to 45 in her primary school class.

"In primary school, our teachers only let classmates who had high academic scores ask questions because there were so many people in the classroom," says Kwok, 14.

"Students like me who did not do very well didn't have many chances to raise questions, so we fell even further behind."

Now Kwok is among the top students in her class.

She is studying at San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School. The school has seen a continuous decline in enrolment because of the city's low birth rate. Last year, it opened only two Form 1 classes with fewer than 25 pupils in each class.