Hong Kong’s student body continues to shrink and get more local – declining birth rate and emigration fuel further falls in enrolment while demand picks up for instruction in Mandarin

Anfield International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong is just one of many kindergartens reporting ‘under-enrolment’ due to emigration

Invictus School and Canadian International talk about shifting demographics with fewer expats and more locals, who want international curricula and courses like robotics and coding

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Lower birth rates and emigration from Hong Kong have seen enrolment fall over the last few years, with an increased proportion of local and mainland students. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:00am, 23 Jun 2023

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Hong Kong’s birth rate has been declining for decades, putting stress on schools. Fewer births mean fewer students, which means less government funding, classes being cut and, in the worst-case scenario, school closures.

This isn’t a new problem. In 2005, then Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur Li was already proposing government measures to help secondary schools tackle problems arising from “under-enrolment”.

This long-standing problem has become more acute in recent years, though, and is impacting lower down the education pyramid. Hong Kong’s recent spike in emigration is starting to put the future of some of the city’s kindergartens in doubt.

A study released in January by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers found that about 10 per cent of the city’s kindergartens are at risk of closure due to residents leaving the city, in addition to the already low birth rate.

Exterior at Anfield International Kindergarten. Photo: Handout

Many more kindergartens are already feeling the pressure. Anfield International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong reports lower enrolment numbers, ever since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.