Coronavirus: upheaval for 400 children as Hong Kong kindergarten warns it will have to close by end of July amid class suspensions

Wellcome International Kindergarten and Nursery in Tuen Mun told parents it will cease operations on July 31

Closure will affect about 200 kindergarten and nursery pupils as well as another 200 children who have been admitted for the next school year

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Wellcome International Kindergarten and Nursery says it is facing financial difficulties. Photo: May Tse

Published: 9:06pm, 11 Mar 2020Updated: 1:46am, 12 Mar 2020

An international kindergarten in Hong Kong has warned it will fold in the summer – leaving more than 400 pupils in limbo – as class suspensions to tackle the coronavirus epidemic have badly hit its finances.

In a statement on Wednesday, Wellcome International Kindergarten and Nursery in Tuen Mun told parents it would cease operations on July 31, after the end of the school year, as it had faced financial difficulties following the withdrawal of pupils and increased rental costs.

The closure would affect about existing 200 kindergarten and nursery pupils as well as another 200 children who had already been admitted for the next school year.

Wellcome said it had sought help from education officials to find alternative places for pupils at nearby kindergartens.

However, principal Yannie Chau Man-yan told the Post the school’s supervisor was planning to take over the right to operate the school, but discussions were at an early stage.

Principal Yannie Chau gets a hug from a pupil. Photo: May Tse

Chau said parents of more than 90 of about 120 pre-nursery children, aged about two years old, had applied to leave the school since February following the Education Bureau’s suspension of classes amid the coronavirus outbreak.