Following last year's decision by the Education Bureau to merge Lung Cheung Government Secondary School with Kowloon Technical School due to insufficient enrollment, it confirmed on the 31st of last month that there were two more subsidized secondary schools that were not approved by the Education Bureau for their development plans. Among them, Caritas Chai Wan Marden Foundation Secondary School Starting from this year, Secondary One will be discontinued, and Minqiao Middle School will seek to convert to DSS or merge with an international school.
The incident has once again aroused social concern, and the wave of downsizing and killing schools has spread in middle schools and even the education sector.
Class reductions, school mergers, and school killings appeared in elementary schools as early as the 2000s.
As for secondary schools, the number of students has continued to decline from the high level in 2006. However, under the Education Bureau's "voluntary optimization of class structure" and other measures such as retaining classes and relocating school buildings, the scale of killing schools is not as large as that of primary schools.
In 2006/07, the number of KTS and DSS secondary schools rose to a high of 473 and then fell back to 451 in the 2020/21 school year.
The Education Bureau originally estimated that the next round of structural decline in school-age students would occur in 2023-2024, but the new crown epidemic and immigration wave from the year before last sounded the alarm bell of killing schools.
The number of primary one to six students in October of the previous year decreased by 2.4% compared with September 2019, and the decrease increased to 3.64% in September last year compared to October of the previous year, or 25,300, equivalent to 800 to 1,000 classes. High and small grades have more churn.
Many teachers and principals said that the number of students dropping out in the middle of the school year has not stopped, and the decline has not stopped.
The decline of the primary one-age population in Hong Kong, coupled with the immigrant wave, has caused schools to face the crisis of downsizing and killing schools.
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The number of students fell "BAND 3", the school is difficult to turn over
In terms of secondary schools, it is assumed that in the new school year in September this year, the population in the middle school life will drop by another 5% compared with that in September last year, which is about 55,000 people, returning to the level of the 2016/17 and 2017/18 school years.
In the past, the middle school could endure the low enrollment, and will it be able to endure it in the future?
It's hard to believe because the student attrition will be concentrated in what is commonly referred to as the third group of secondary schools.
First, it has been pointed out that more newly arrived students are enrolled in the third group of secondary schools, and the epidemic has hampered their admission. Second, the immigration wave has created more vacancies in the first and second groups of schools, attracting some parents to take advantage of the opportunity to achieve better grades The children of 100% are assigned places or transfer schools, and the third group is even less popular.
Facing the decline in the population of school-age students, small class teaching can stabilize the manpower and the number of schools in the education sector, and can also take the opportunity to improve the quality of teaching.
Some people point out that Hong Kong can also be open to primary and secondary school students from different places to study in Hong Kong exclusively, which is a step further than the current arrangement of international schools to take care of the children of foreign workers.
Deng Feiyue, principal of secondary schools, vice-chairman of the Federation of Education Associations, and member of the Legislative Council, advocated that Hong Kong follow the example of Singapore and Taiwan in attracting students from the mainland, overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, and other countries in the region.
This group of students can self-finance and study in private and DSS schools at full cost, and can be extended to subsidized schools in the future depending on the situation.
Zhu Guoqiang, a member of the Legislative Council of the education sector, saw that the supply of places in Shenzhen was in short supply, so he suggested that Hong Kong absorb students from the Greater Bay Area.
Another organization, the Education Council, has also relayed similar recommendations a few days ago.
Even if the HKDSE is admitted, it is difficult to attract foreign students
The HKDSE is widely recognized, but it is still a long way from becoming a selling point for study.
In terms of courses, if you are taking internationally recognized courses and exams, or you prefer to study in English, overseas students can choose to study GCE or IB. Singapore is closer to Southeast Asian countries than Hong Kong, and has a greater advantage than Hong Kong.
In terms of education expenses, Hong Kong's study and housing expenses may be comparable to Singapore's, but certainly higher than Taiwan's.
If students - especially overseas Chinese - want to learn Chinese well or use Chinese to test, the cost of going to Taiwan will be less.
Furthermore, the HKEAA plans to allow candidates to take the HKDSE examinations in the Mainland from 2024, and is currently discussing the specific arrangements with the Mainland authorities.
If successful, most of the exams do not need to come to Hong Kong to sit for them.
More importantly, the Greater Bay Area is gradually opening schools for children of Hong Kong people offering HKDSE and international courses.
After the epidemic and social turmoil, there have been frequent messages from mainland parents on the Internet saying that they are or have arranged to transfer their children to Shenzhen to study.
Although it is difficult to count the number, it shows that mainlanders are not as attractive to Hong Kong's educational environment as they used to be.
Ironically, when the HKEAA and the brand of Hong Kong-style education become better and better, to a certain extent, it will reduce the willingness of mainland students to come directly to study in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong does not need to be afraid of competition. Education can flourish between cities, and students can study in different places according to their preferences and needs.
However, Hong Kong must recognize its own advantages. If the education authorities want to open up the source of students, the first thing to do is to reduce the cost of studying and living in Hong Kong, such as building dormitories in new development areas, and establishing unique advantages, such as encouraging students to stay in Hong Kong Go to university and develop local advantageous industries such as commerce and biotechnology, and build a network of friends between schools to help them develop their academic careers.
Cai Ruolian has reservations about opening the source of overseas students, but even if the government accepts the proposal, taking into account the facilities and promotion time, it will take five to ten years at any time, and there are too many variables involved...
For details, please read the 329th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Electronic Weekly Newsletter (August 8, 2022) "
Is it feasible to recruit overseas students again?
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