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A teacher guides primary school pupils across the road in Tsuen Wan. Photo: Felix Wong

Nearly 90 per cent of 6-year-olds in Hong Kong allocated primary school spots from their top 3 choices

  • Education authorities reveal 89 per cent of pupils received one of their top three primary school choices during this year’s two-stage allocation process
  • Educators attribute high success rate to recent emigration wave, declining birth rates

Almost 90 per cent of six-year-olds have secured a spot at one of their top three choices for primary schools in Hong Kong for the next academic year, the highest success rate in more than a decade.

Places at primary schools are allocated according to a two-part process. The first is a discretionary admission phase in November and accounts for nearly half of all six-year-olds.

The remaining pupils are assigned spots through a central allocation exercise, with parents listing their choices in January, with each school setting aside about half of its Primary 1 places.

According to the Education Bureau on Thursday, the overall success rate for both stages ahead of the coming academic year reached 89 per cent, the highest level since 2012.

Almost half of pupils secure spot at preferred Hong Kong primary school

The two-stage process for determining Primary One spots is based on factors such as grades, where a child lives, attendance of any past or current family members at a chosen school and religious affiliations.

During this year’s central allocation exercise, 78 per cent of 22,898 children who took part received a spot at one of their first three choices for primary school. The figure is also the highest recorded success rate in more than a decade.

However, the number of pupils taking part in the exercise fell by 1,320 compared with last year.

Educators attributed the overall high success for both stages to the city’s shrinking student population and a recent emigration wave.

Ricky Ng Wing-hung, principal of Buddhist Lim Kim Tian Memorial Primary School, said less competition for Primary One spots meant the record-high rate could be expected.

“It was obviously due to the low birth rate and the emigration wave,” he said.

Principal of Buddhist Lim Kim Tian Memorial Primary School Ricky Ng. Photo: Jonathan Wong

In a written reply to the Legislative Council last month, the bureau projected that the number of six-year-olds in the city stood at 58,500 in 2022.

Authorities added that the number could potentially fall to 48,500 by 2027.

Meanwhile, the Post earlier reported that only 38,684 babies were registered in Hong Kong last year, the lowest figure since records became available in 1966.

Ng said he expected that more children would be leaving Hong Kong this summer, a period when schools with vacancies were willing to enrol “door-knocking” pupils seeking places at their ideal campus.

“The less popular schools will then have a problem of under-enrolment and face the risk of reducing classes and having to close schools,” he said. “This round of so-called musical chairs may last until October.”

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Over the past three years, more than 2,000 pupils had also declined to take part in central allocation exercises after failing to secure their top choices during the discretionary admission stage.

Chow Wai-chun, president of the Early Childhood Educators Association, said the unprecedented phenomenon was related to record numbers of K3 pupils withdrawing to emigrate abroad with their families.

She added that some pupils had also switched to private schools or campuses supported under a direct subsidy scheme.

The bureau said parents would receive the results of the central allocation exercise by post between next Wednesday and Thursday.

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