Number of students in Hong Kong international schools rises 18% to highest level since 2013
- But the proportion of students in government and aided schools dropped 12 per cent over same period to a record low, latest census shows
The number of students in Hong Kong’s international schools has reached an 11-year high, but the proportion of those in local institutions dropped to a record low amid a shrinking pupil population, official data has shown.
The latest census report said international schools recorded an 18 per cent increase in the number of students over the current academic year compared with 2013, with government and aided ones seeing a 12 per cent decline over the same period.
An international school education consultant said the figures reflected a drift in student enrolment. A subsidised-school council, meanwhile, urged authorities to align the grading system of the local university entrance exams with the international ones in a bid to let more high fliers obtain top scores.
The figures are based on a headcount exercise conducted in kindergartens, primary, secondary and special schools last September.
The city’s overall school enrolment stood at 799,025 students in the current academic year, a drop of about 11 per cent from 894,071 in 2013-14.
Among them, those studying in primary and secondary international schools reached an 11-year high of 42,074 from 35,580 in 2013-14.
