79pc are allocated to one of their first three selections, up from 76pc last year
More pupils will find that they have been allocated to the schools of their choice when details of the allocation of secondary school places are released today.
Of the 81,707 Primary Six pupils going to secondary school in September, 64,913, or 79.4 per cent, were allocated to one of their first three choices of schools, up from 76.5 per cent last year, according to the Education and Manpower Bureau.
About 50,000 pupils, or 61.2 per cent, were accepted by their first choice school, up from 59.2 per cent last year, and 58.3 the year before.
And 13,699, or 16.8 per cent, were able to obtain discretionary places, up from 15.9 per cent last year, and 15.2 per cent the year before.
A spokesman for the bureau attributed the increase to the popularity of the growing number of direct subsidy schools and linked primary and secondary schools, known as through-train schools.
Parents were also more open to these schools now rather than the traditional elite schools, said Lam Seung-wan, vice-president of the Aided Primary School Heads Association.
