Hong Kong’s secondary schools lose 4,500 students and 1,000 teachers in single year amid wider emigration wave, poll finds
- Association of principals surveyed 140 secondary schools and found each one lost on average 32 pupils and seven teachers in single year
- Just 2,700 students and 498 teachers left in the 2019-20 academic year, with the increase prompting association to warn of brain drain out of Hong Kong and threat to education standards
Hong Kong’s secondary schools lost almost 4,500 students and 1,000 teachers in the last academic year amid a broader emigration wave, a survey has found, a nearly twofold increase that prompted headmasters to sound the alarm over the dangers of a brain drain.
The findings of the poll of 140 secondary schools released by the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools on Wednesday meant each institution suffered an average loss of 32 students and seven teachers.
Twelve per cent of principals also indicated they would retire soon, while another 13 per cent said they were unsure whether they would still be in the role in three years. Departures on such a scale would have a great impact on schools and should not be taken lightly, the association warned.
The 4,460 students who left in 2020-21 compared with the 2,700 reported in each of the previous two years, when an average of 20 pupils withdrew from each school.
Sixty per cent of the students dropping out left for overseas countries, mainland China or Macau, according to the association.
“A comparatively acute situation in student withdrawal from schools in 2020-21 is evident,” it said. “The withdrawal rate at the junior level is close to double that at the senior secondary level.”
A total of 987 teachers from the surveyed schools left in the past academic year, up from 498 in 2019-20 and 517 in 2018-19.
In 2020-21, the number of teachers emigrating or taking early retirement had risen sharply, with a seven-fold increase in emigration compared to the year before, the association said, calling the brain drain “high”.