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William Yiu

Hong Kong authorities have approved five secondary schools, including some elite institutions, to open an additional Form One class from September.
According to the Education Bureau on Thursday, the five schools include Queen’s College and Wah Yan College Hong Kong, both top boys’ schools.
The other three, all located in the North district near the border, are Christian Alliance S W Chan Memorial College, TWGHs Kap Yan Directors’ College and TWGHs Li Ka Shing College.
Queen’s College and Wah Yan College Hong Kong currently operate four Form One classes each, with about 35 to 36 students per class in the 2023-24 school year.
The expansion means about 35 more students will each be admitted to these two schools in the coming year, compared with 2023-24.
The three North district schools currently run five Form One classes, though one of these classes at each school was “provisional”, according to the bureau.
From September next year, all three will formally operate five Form One classes. They each had about 33 to 34 students per class in 2023–24.
In May, the Education Bureau announced that secondary schools with four Form One classes could apply to open one more in the new school year, with a cap of five approvals.
The bureau said the policy aimed to provide quality education and respond to parents’ needs.
“The Education Bureau fully understands the school sector’s concerns about the healthy development of the school ecosystem. Therefore, the quota for 2026 is five,” it said.
It added that the decision to approve the five schools to operate an additional Form One class was based on a detailed review of various factors, including school facilities, their track record, parental demand, the overall balance of school places across Hong Kong, and their locations.

Principal Vincent Kwong Wing-sun of the Christian Alliance S W Chan Memorial College said the school met the requirement to operate one more class, including the number of applications in the discretionary place stage having consistently exceeded 100 per cent of all available places for the past three years.
“It resulted in many students being unsuccessful in their applications. Furthermore, all available places for junior forms have been filled in 2025-26,” he said.
“To respond to parents’ demands and in line with the Education Bureau’s direction of promoting high-quality education development in Hong Kong, our school has decided to submit an application, hoping to provide quality educational services to more students.”
At the same time, the bureau raised the minimum number of pupils required to run a Form One class from 25 to 27 this school year, with the threshold to be further increased to 29 in the 2026–27 academic year.
Public secondary schools must operate at least two Form One classes to qualify for government subsidies, meaning they will need to enrol at least 30 students next September.
Chu Kwok-keung, lawmaker for the education constituency, said the new measure would mainly affect academically weaker schools amid falling student numbers.
“I called on the parents to choose schools based on the children’s ability and interest,” he said.
Government projections show that the number of 12-year-old Form One students will drop from 58,800 in 2025 to 49,800 in 2031 – a 15 per cent decline.
The Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools criticised the bureau for not consulting the sector before allowing popular schools to apply for an additional Form One class, saying the move would intensify competition.
In 2010, the bureau launched a months-long consultation on the “voluntary optimisation of class structure scheme”, which allowed schools operating five Form One classes to apply to reduce to four, to ease the impact of declining student numbers.
The scheme allowed schools operating five Form One classes to apply to operate four classes to alleviate the problem of the sharp decline in student numbers.
More than 200 schools joined the scheme at the time.
In 2024-25, around 66 per cent of 385 public schools operated four Form One classes, while 13 per cent had five, 17 per cent having three Form One classes.


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Which Hong Kong schools have gained approval to add extra Form One classes?

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Students at Fung Kai No. 1 Primary School in Sheung Shui. The Education Bureau says no secondary schools will be shut this year. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

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News

Hong Kong

Education

Five secondary schools, including elite institutions among those cleared to expand intake next academic year under Education Bureau review


Five secondary schools, including elite institutions among those cleared to expand intake next academic year under Education Bureau review.


Chu Kwok-keung

TWGHs Li Ka Shing College

Which Hong Kong schools have gained approval to add extra Form One classes?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Five secondary schools, including elite institutions among those cleared to expand intake next academic year under Education Bureau review

Five secondary schools, including elite institutions among those cleared to expand intake next academic year under Education Bureau review