‘Dragon baby’ boom, talent influx help Hong Kong schools add 10 Form One classes
But schools sector expects the number of Form One classes is at ‘final peak’ and that the student population will decline in coming years
Hong Kong’s public secondary schools can breathe a sigh of relief for survival with a net increase of 10 Form One classes recorded this academic year, thanks to a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon in 2012 and an influx of children whose parents arrived from mainland China under talent schemes.
But the schools sector said on Thursday that it expected the number of Form One classes was at its “final peak” and the student population would decline in coming years.
Only 49,300 students were expected to join the Secondary School Places Allocation System in 2025, an eight-year low, the Education Bureau said.
The number of Form One classes at nearly 400 government and aided schools rose from 1,493 in the last academic year to 1,503 in the current one, a net increase of 10, according to profiles compiled by the Committee on Home-School Cooperation.
Fifteen secondary schools were allowed to operate one more Form One class, while three schools had one fewer class.
A government school, which had two Form One classes in the previous year, stopped operating them in the current school year due to relocation.
