- Rise attributed to record number of births in 2011; number fell after chief executive at the time banned mainland women from having babies in the city
- Lawmaker Chu Kwok-keung calls the current situation the ‘calm before the storm’ and says Secondary One population will reduce drastically
Hong Kong’s government and aided institutions have registered a minor growth in the number of Form One classes. Photo: ShutterstockHong Kong’s public schools have seen a small rise in the number of Form One classes, but educators have cautioned that the figure is reflective of a record number of births from over a decade ago and will see a drastic drop in two years.
The Committee on Home-School Cooperation on Tuesday published data showing the number of Form One classes at the city’s 387 government and aided institutions had risen from 1,496 in the 2022-23 academic year to 1,498 for the current one.
Wong Kwan-yu, the permanent honourable president of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, warned the figure was tied to the record-high 95,500 babies born in 2011.
The number later dropped to 57,100 in 2013 after the chief executive at the time, Leung Chun-ying, announced a “zero-quota” policy to ban mainland Chinese women from having babies in Hong Kong.
“The small increase in the S1 classes this year was due to the high number of births 12 years ago,” he said. “The expansion of S1 classes in Hong Kong will not last as the Secondary One population will record a drastic fall two years later, in 2025-26.”
The data released on Tuesday also showed 12 public secondary schools recorded an increase in the number of Form One classes in 2023-24.
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At HKFEW Wong Cho Bau Secondary School in Tung Chung, where Wong serves as a supervisor, the number of Form One classes had risen from three to five and represented the city’s largest increase.
But another 11 secondary schools had reduced the number of such classes as a result of insufficient student numbers or changes to enrolment arrangements.
Lawmaker Chu Kwok-keung, who represents the education constituency, also said he expected a sharp fall in student numbers in the coming years.
“The current stable situation is just the calm before the storm, the S1 population is going to fall sharply after two years,” he said.
Education authorities earlier estimated that the number of schoolchildren aged 12 would drop from 71,600 this year to 60,100 in 2029.
Over in Wan Chai, Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School and Hotung Secondary School, with both going from three Form One classes each in 2022-23 to two this year.
“I think the Education Bureau will probably merge these two government schools, the government is now paving the way by slashing its S1 classes,” Chu said.
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According to the current policy, schools have to secure at least two Form One classes to make the cut or they must submit survival plans for the government to approve.
Authorities are encouraging schools to merge in response to the shrinking student population to create institutions that have at least two Form One classes.
The Education Bureau said authorities were reviewing the sustainable development of government schools and would formulate long-term development plans after considering a number of factors, such as demand for places by district and the use of public resources.
It added that the number of Form One students was expected to increase for the next academic year.
“According to the current information, the number of students joining the secondary school place allocation system this year is 51,500, seeing an increase of 990 compared to the 50,508 students joining the system last year,” the bureau said.