Around 62 per cent of Hong Kong pupils secured their first choice secondary school via the central system this year. Photo: Elson LiSixty-two per cent of Hong Kong secondary school applicants have secured their first choice of institution through the central allocation system. This is the lowest percentage since 2020.
The Education Bureau said on Monday that 51,393 Primary Six children were allocated secondary school places via the system.
The proportion securing their first choice of schools was 66 per cent last year, 71 per cent in 2022, 67 per cent in 2021 and 62 per cent in 2020.
There are two stages in the allocation of public secondary schools for pupils in Hong Kong.
Those in the first stage are granted school places based on discretionary factors, such as academic and interview performance. They can apply directly to one or two schools, and the results were released in March.
Children who fail to secure a place at the discretionary stage or who do not apply then are placed in a second stage that relies on computer-based allocation and the banding which pupils belong to.
The computer-based allocation stage itself contains two phases, a first phase where pupils can pick up to three schools, and a second where the remaining pupils who have not yet been allocated are assigned one of 30 schools in a catchment area known as a “school net”.
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Chu Kwok-keung, a primary school principal and a lawmaker representing the education sector, said the low proportion was partially affected by the number of births in 2012, a Year of the Dragon and considered auspicious in traditional Chinese culture.
“It is definitely affected by the impact of the Year of Dragon, as more students were being born that year,” he said. “Like in North district where my school is situated, around 400 [of the 3,600] students have been assigned to schools that are out of the district.”
He also said the education planning of some parents had contributed to the lower satisfaction rate.
“Some parents may be aggressive in selecting their preferred schools when they often hear the news of a decline in the student population, but the number of students actually went up this year,” the principal said.
The bureau said the total proportion of pupils who secured their first choice at both the discretionary stage and via central allocation was 79 per cent.
Those who secured their first pick through the central allocation system reached 71 per cent in 2022 – a record high – when the city experienced a wave of emigration and residents had more spots available to them in local public schools.
All Primary Six pupils taking part in this year’s allocation system should return to their school on Tuesday to collect the allocation and admission slips, then report to their assigned secondary schools on Thursday or Friday for registration.
The Education Bureau said it hoped parents and pupils would accept the allocation results with a positive attitude.
“The learning effectiveness of students does not hinge merely on the schools to which they are allocated, but rather on whether students have a proactive mindset in learning,” it said.
“It is important for parents to continue to support and encourage their children and to avoid burdening children with their own expectations,” it added.