Hong Kong schools to host first education fair to attract students from Greater Bay Area amid falling enrolments
Hong Kong Free Press
At least 120 of the city’s primary and secondary schools will participate in an education fair aimed at recruiting students living in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) amid declining enrolments and a falling fertility rate.
The First GBA Hong Kong Education Expo will be hosted from December 15 to 17 at the AsiaWorld-Expo centre. It is being organised by four local school councils serving institutions under direct or partly subsidised schemes.
Dion Chen, chairman of the Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, one of the organising parties, told HKFP that Hong Kong had seen more students from mainland China and overseas since the border reopened in February. Children whose parents are non-permanent residents have also come to Hong Kong for schooling.
“Non-local parents are not familiar with Hong Kong’s education resources and admission procedures. Therefore we hope to introduce a fair catering for them,” Chen said in Cantonese, estimating around 20,000 people would visit the fair.
Hong Kong enforced strict border controls throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, which remained in place until normal travel between the city and mainland China was resumed in February. The restrictions coincided with a decline in the city’s population, as local and expat families left Hong Kong amid ongoing anti-epidemic measures and following the imposition of a national security law that has reshaped the city’s curriculum.
Chen added that representatives of school councils had also visited Beijing, Shanghai and different cities in GBA to speak to parents who were interested to sending their children to Hong Kong for schooling. The GBA is a megalopolis spanning Hong Kong, Macau, and nine mainland Chinese cities, and has been earmarked by Beijing as a hub for technology innovation and investment.
Hong Kong has been experiencing a decreasing number of local students due to its low birth rate and the emigration wave. According to HKFP calculations based on the Education Bureau’s annual enrolment statistics report, over 27,000 primary and secondary students discontinued their education in Hong Kong last year.
As a result, the Education Bureau announced that at least five primary schools under the government subsidy scheme faced closure after falling short of the Primary One enrolment threshold of 16 students.
Even renowned schools have seen fewer students, with the likes of Ying Wa College and Creative Secondary School still recruiting transfer students last August, HK01 reported.
In response to HKFP, the bureau said for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, there were nine secondary schools which had only two classes for Form One students.
“According to estimates, the population of school-age children is expected to undergo a structural decline,” the bureau said in Chinese-language statement, adding that it would closely monitor student numbers and work to ensure the quality of education.
Chen, who is also the principal of Ying Wa College, told HKFP that while most places were reserved for students from Ying Wa Primary School, the college had received more applications for the 2023-24 school year, with 1,800 applications competing for 80 places for external students.
“We can tell that there have been more students from mainland China [applying], but we cannot provide the exact number so far,” Chen said.
Children of new talent visa holders
To tackle the issue of brain drain, the Hong Kong government has introduced a new work permit called the Top Talent Pass Scheme, and relaxed the requirements of some existing work visas to attract talent to the city.
Hong Kong issued around 100,000 working visas in the first nine months of the year, around 2.5 times more than the total number granted in 2022, when Covid-19 travel restrictions remained in force.
At least 78.7 per cent of the 100,000 visa holders are from mainland China, according to statistics from Immigration Department.
According to a survey of 1,200 non-local workers conducted by pro-Beijing lawmakers Jesse Shang and Tang Fei, 75.8 per cent sent their children to Hong Kong schools, with 40 per cent going to public schools.
The lawmakers urged authorities not to close or merge local public schools as they believed that more school-age children would arrive in Hong Kong as a result of the talent schemes.
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