Cross-border schooling offers new choices

Parents concerned at the scarcity of international school places in Hong Kong now have alternatives, thanks to new schools opening in the mainland.

A persistent worry for many parents in Hong Kong, or those planning a move to the territory, is the limited number of places available at international schools.

The government is obviously well aware of the issue, while influential voices in the wider business community have also taken up the cause, highlighting the possibly detrimental impact on the city’s appeal as a regional headquarters and a home base for top executives.

New schools have been built, such as Harrow International School in Tuen Mun, which opened in 2012. There are also plans to increase capacity on other campuses and, subject to the usual administrative processes, allocate suitable land for new institutions. Of course, all that takes time.

However, locally based parents can quickly expand their options if they are prepared to look just across the border in Shenzhen. Responding to the demand from both mainland and expatriate families for high-quality education built around an international curriculum, investors there have teamed up with the relevant authorities to develop new schools.

For instance, Mission Hills International School (MHIS) is planned as a co-educational, bilingual day school teaching in English and Putonghua. It will accept students from kindergarten up to university entrance-level and offer boarding for children in Grade 7 and above. In the first phase, the Shenzhen campus will see a pre-school for three- to five-year-olds in September this year. Phase two, set for completion in September 2017, will bring the opening of the lower and upper schools in purpose-built, state-of-the-art facilities. A sister school, due to open at the same time, is planned for Haikou.