Exclusive | Struggling Hong Kong school that failed to pay staff or rent will not close, co-founder says, as he blames management firm for financial ills
- Mount Kelly School in Tsim Sha Tsui was being investigated by the Education Bureau
- Long-term investor Edward Wong says bloated staffing levels, overdue fees, and ‘messy’ management means major changes needed
Edward Wong Pak-yin admitted that Mount Kelly School, in which he is also a long-time investor, had failed to break even for the past year, and had been running behind on its expenses “by millions of Hong Kong dollars” for months.
But he denied that the school, which is located in Tsim Sha Tsui and offers a British curriculum and charges parents between HK$154,990 and HK$195,000 (US$25,000) annually, would be forced to close, and pledged to keep it open while a major restructuring took place, with more funds to be injected.
The Education Bureau previously said it had launched an inquiry into Mount Kelly, after the school revealed earlier this month that it was moving all classes online until the end of term in July.
“I don’t know why [outsiders] are demonising our home learning efforts, there are even rumours saying we were soon going to wind up operations,” Wong told the Post.
The school, which has a sister institution in Devon, England, is operated on a daily basis by Mount Kelly International (MKI) and Wong blames the management company for the financial difficulties.