After years of financial difficulties, Hong Kong boarding school for troubled teens is seeking donations to stay afloat

A Hong Kong boarding school catering to teenagers with drug and behavioural problems has put out a plea for donations to sustain its ailing model, but years of shrinking enrolment and stubbornly high overhead have raised questions as to its long-term viability.

The privately run Christian Zheng Sheng College, founded in 1985 and located at Ha Keng on a remote part of Lantau Island, recently launched a social media campaign to raise HK$300,000 (US$38,700) a month from the public to keep the school afloat after years of deficits – recently of as much as HK$500,000 to HK$600,000 a month.

In one call for donations, co-founder and principal Alman Chan Siu-cheuk said that without outside help, the school was destined to shut down for good. Within a month or so, his target of having 3,000 residents donate HK$100 a month had been exceeded.

“Your great generosity has helped relieve the urgent needs of the school,” said Chan in a Facebook post in November. “In the long run, Zheng Sheng College hopes to build a more stable income and help more young people in need.”

However, that goal has been an uphill battle for the school in recent years.

Zheng Sheng’s student body has decreased dramatically, from 65 in 2014 to 36 at present, while annual staff salaries and allowances – though somewhat reduced – have remained largely unchanged over the past three years, according to both Chan and financial records provided to the Post.