Rosaryhill school closure: private institution taking over Hong Kong campus to pay sponsoring body for use of land
- Dalton School Hong Kong confirms it will provide ‘financial support’ for Dominican Missions, which is behind Rosaryhill Kindergarten and Rosaryhill School in Mid-Levels
- Lawmaker says sponsor in rare case actually owns private land on which school sits, and closure not down to money woes or insufficient student intake
An education institution taking over a well-known Hong Kong Catholic school at the centre of a closure controversy has said it will pay the present sponsoring body of the campus for use of the building, which is on private land, but declined to reveal the amount involved.
Dalton School Hong Kong, which will take over stewardship of the privately funded Rosaryhill Kindergarten and Rosaryhill Primary School in Mid-Levels next September, confirmed the deal with the Dominican Missions to the Post on Monday night.
The secondary school department, which has nearly 400 pupils, will shift from an aided school to a privately funded one.
But Dalton School declined to reveal the payment amount on confidentiality grounds.
The Dominican Missions, the school’s sponsoring body, owns the land.
“In recognition of the Dominican Missions’ ongoing mission and activities in Asia, DSHK will provide a contribution for the use of the school premises to support their vital work, ensuring they can continue their valuable efforts, especially in Hong Kong and Macau,” a spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for the Education Bureau said on Tuesday it had received about 10 enquiries related to the Rosaryhill School and pledged to provide appropriate help for pupils and parents.
She added that it did not have the figures for the number of aided schools located on the private land.
Dalton School said last week it would take over Rosaryhill Kindergarten and Rosaryhill Primary School. Rosaryhill Secondary School will cease operations as a subsidised institution in the 2025-26 academic year and become a private school with an international curriculum.
The abrupt announcement sparked anger among parents and pupils, who have been forced to seek alternatives.
Education sector lawmaker Chu Kwok-keung said Rosaryhill School was built on private land, which belonged to the Dominican Missions, in contrast with most other cases where the sponsoring bodies of aided schools needed to return the site to the government at the end of stewardships.
Chu said it was very rare for an aided school such as Rosaryhill Secondary to be situated on private land belonging to its sponsoring body.
Chu said he had learned from teaching staff at the school that the Dominican Missions no longer wanted to operate schools, even though there was a sufficient pupil intake and no financial problems.
He accused the sponsoring body of not taking into account the effect of the decision on pupils.
“Operating a school is not doing business, it is not like winding down a business by a company. Schools have students and teachers and we cannot just consider if it fulfils procedures,” he argued.
Baljinder Singh, the chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association at Rosaryhill Secondary, said his group did not know how much the new school sponsoring body would pay to the Dominican Missions after it took over the kindergarten and primary.
He revealed not only were pupils frustrated to learn of the closure, but the school principal had cried.
“Last Thursday, I was called to go back to campus to learn about the new arrangement and I saw the school head cry after she was notified of what would happen. Everyone was so shocked,” he said.
He said the school supervisor, He Yousun, had pledged to follow up on their concerns and requests but no promises were made.
The school now has 394 pupils and there are more than 60 children in Form One, Singh said.
