2 Hong Kong aided schools to merge next year due to falling enrolment

Two aided schools in Hong Kong’s Eastern district will begin to merge at the start of the next academic year after one of them failed to enrol enough students, according to the Salvation Army that sponsors both.

The latest merger plan, which involves the Salvation Army Ann Wyllie Memorial School and the Salvation Army Centaline Charity Fund School, was floated after the Education Bureau told the latter it could not operate any subsidised Primary One classes in the current academic year due to insufficient enrolment.

The schools’ sponsoring body, the Hong Kong arm of the Salvation Army, on Wednesday said the merger was due to the “structural change of the primary school student population” and “a response to the change of the demand in the district”.

“The merger plan obtained the written approval from the Education Bureau on September 20 and will start merging in 2024-25,” the sponsoring body said.

The Centaline school on Wah Ha Street in Chai Wan now has 12 classes while the Memorial school in the neighbourhood’s Heng Fa Chuen has 19. Students in the former will gradually switch to the latter, meaning the Centaline school will close in the 2026-27 academic year.

All senior students in the Centaline school, Primary Four to Six, will be allowed to graduate from the institution.