Schools in Hong Kong feel effects of children heading to mainland China for school
Drop in number of ‘cross-border children’, which comes after central government policy change in April, means uncertainty for teachers and schools
Hong Kong’s education chief said the city’s schools have felt the impact of China’s decision to let children born in the city to mainland Chinese parents study north of the border, with fewer pupils studying in the city than last year.
Fewer pupils means financial uncertainty for some teachers and even for some schools, but Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said the Education Bureau would have to wait until the middle of this month before it had the full picture.
More than 202,000 children were born in Hong Kong to mainland parents between 2001 and 2012, thereby gaining permanent residency in the city. That was until the government stopped mainland women giving birth in local hospitals, in 2013.
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Until this year those children were not allowed to go to Shenzhen’s public schools, so they had to come to Hong Kong for school, adding to local competition for school places, homes and other resources.
“We expected some cross-border students would choose not to come to Hong Kong to study, but the government is responsible for making sure there are enough places,” Yeung said after visiting a school in Tseung Kwan O on Friday morning. “We will only know of the ... result of the policy in early or mid-September.”