Hong Kong’s semi-private schools get go-ahead to raise fees by 4% on average, highest in 4 years, after ‘tough time under inflation, pandemic’
- Education Bureau says it received 187 applications from schools charging tuition fees, including 49 from those covered under direct subsidy scheme
- Increases among subsidised schools ‘understandable and reasonable’ after institutions contend with inflation, frozen fees during pandemic, education body says
Hong Kong’s semi-private schools have been given the green light to increase fees by about 4 per cent on average, the most in four years, with an education body attributing the move to inflation and a price freeze during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Education Bureau on Thursday said it had received 187 applications to increase tuition fees from private and international schools, as well as semi-private ones under the government’s direct subsidy scheme (DSS).
Only seven of the applications had been rejected, it added.
The bureau scrutinised applications from DSS schools based on their submitted budgets, the rationale behind the increase and whether the institutions had consulted and explained their reasoning to parents, it said.
Schools under the scheme won approval to increase fees by 4.09 per cent on average for the 2023-24 academic year, while their private and international counterparts got the green light to raise them by 5.41 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively.