More than 30,000 students quit Hong Kong schools, with campuses in high-income areas taking hardest knocks
- Comparison of enrolment figures from Education Bureau shows 30,515 students withdrew from schools in Hong Kong between October 2020 and September 2021
- Members of education sector call student exodus frustrating, advise authorities to implement small-class teaching
More than 30,000 students withdrew from schools in Hong Kong during the last academic year, with campuses in high-income districts hit hardest by the departures, the Post has found.
Several members of the education sector described the exodus as frustrating, adding they hoped authorities could implement small-class teaching to alleviate the triple whammy of a recent emigration wave, the coronavirus pandemic and the city’s historically low birth rate.
The Post compared Education Bureau enrolment figures for pupils from K1 to Secondary Five in October 2020 with newly released ones for the same batch of students in K2 to Secondary Six last September, the start of the current academic year.
The figures showed a total of 30,515 students had left schools in Hong Kong between October 2020 and last September, with the number of enrolled children dropping from about 810,000 to 780,000.
The data covered all government, aided and international schools, as well as institutions under the direct subsidy scheme.
About 5,000 pupils left kindergartens, while around 10,000 and 15,000 students from primary and secondary schools, respectively, were also reported to have exited.
According to the data, about 4,400 K2 students left before they reached K3 in September, while Primary Four and Five as well as Form Four and Five recorded more students leaving compared with other levels.
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The number of departing students made up 3.8 per cent of last year’s total enrolment figure, compared with 2.6 per cent in 2019-20, when 21,643 youngsters left schools.
Among the city’s 18 districts, bureau data showed the highest student withdrawal rates were reported in Central and Western followed by Wan Chai, reaching 11 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. Both districts also accounted for the highest median monthly household incomes in Hong Kong, reaching more than HK$52,000 (US$6,626).
Kwun Tong, which has the lowest median monthly household income at about HK$29,400, recorded the lowest rate of withdrawals at 2 per cent.
However, the drop in the overall student population led to a slight improvement in the city’s pupil-to-teacher ratio, shifting from 8.1:1 to 8:1 in preschools, from 13:1 to 12.5:1 in primary schools, and from 11.2:1 to 11:1 in secondary institutions.
Members of the education sector attributed the large number of students withdrawing from schools to a series of emigration waves that started in 2020.
Vu Im-fan, chairwoman of the Subsidised Primary Schools Council, said the departure of students from institutions had been brought about by the emigration trend and travel restrictions introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Schools had become frustrated with the continuous withdrawal of pupils over the past two years, she said, noting the education sector had no control over the issue.
Vu said schools in the city’s wealthiest districts had suffered more due to middle-class families being able to afford the costs of relocating overseas, adding that more students had left in June to prepare for the next academic year.
She said she hoped authorities could implement small-class teaching to benefit Primary One pupils, whose numbers had also declined partly because of the city’s record low birth rate.
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The Post earlier reported that only 38,684 births were registered in Hong Kong last year, the lowest since records became available in 1966.
Alan Yuen King-hang, principal of S.K.H. Tang Shiu Kin Secondary School in Wan Chai, noted more junior form students had withdrawn from his institution than those from higher grades.
Yuen said parents of younger pupils might have withdrawn their children to ensure they would pay local fees for United Kingdom universities after obtaining British citizenship rather than the pricier rates faced by overseas students.
Around 20 students had left the school during the current academic year, the principal said, adding the figure was a slight increase from 2020-21.
Data from several of the city’s top schools also showed the number of pupils withdrawing from institutions during the 2020-21 academic year had surged compared with the previous year.
St Paul’s Co-educational College reported that 114 students left in 2020-21, compared with 78 in 2019-20.
Meanwhile, St Joseph’s College said the early exit rate for students had risen from 6.6 per cent in 2019-20 to 12.7 per cent the following year.
A report from Good Hope School found its early exit rate rose to 13.1 per cent in 2020-21 from 8.1 per cent a year earlier, meaning 165 students had left.
A bureau spokeswoman said the demand for primary and secondary places would also be affected by the number of school-age children in the city.
“It is anticipated that the gradual decrease in the future school-age population will not be transient but structural, and the drop will be bigger than previously estimated,” she said, adding the bureau would continue communicating with schools to implement measures to cope with changes in demand for places.
