Exclusive | Hong Kong officials to relax cap on local students at international schools, citing pandemic-related spate of expat departures
- International schools have long been required to have student bodies comprising at least 70 per cent non-local students
- However, the rule has proved flexible in the past, and easing it could help schools weather the pandemic, advocates say
The Education Bureau told the Post that the short-term arrangement, which would still require a majority of the student body to be non-locals, could facilitate international schools’ stable development and maintain the city’s status as a global financial and trading hub.
The rule, which aims to ensure enough spaces for children of expat families, initially required international schools to enrol at least 50 per cent non-local students when it was introduced in 2007. It was revised two years later to 70 per cent.
But over the past few years, many international schools have failed to meet the enrolment quota.
Two sources told the Post that international school representatives had requested a relaxation of the enrolment rule during meetings with the bureau in recent months.
