Primary school teachers in Hong Kong decrease by 650

According to the Education Bureau's Primary School Profiles, the number of primary school teachers in Hong Kong has experienced a net year-on-year decrease of more than 650, a 2.8 percent drop.

This data, extracted from the 2024 Primary School Profiles, highlights a decline in the workforce across approximately 500 primary schools, totaling 24,800 teachers.

The report further reveals a significant reduction in veteran teachers. Specifically, teachers with more than a decade of experience have decreased by 510, while those with less than four years of experience have decreased by 133.

Over the past five years, the proportion of teachers with 10 or more years of experience has gradually declined from 62 percent to 58 percent.

Conversely, the proportion of teachers with 5 to 9 years of experience has seen an increase from 15 percent to 21 percent during the same period. The proportion of teachers with 4 years of experience or less has remained stable at about 20 percent.

The data, provided and reviewed by the schools, reflect the situation only up until April of this year, suggesting that further changes could occur in the new school year.

The teacher turnover rate has also seen notable fluctuations. It rose sharply from 4.5 percent in the 2020-21 school year to 8.9 percent in the 2022-23 school year, before slightly decreasing to 8.3 percent in the last school year.

Additionally, the proportion of newly hired teachers in public primary schools has increased in recent years, from 4.7 percent in the 2020-21 school year to 7.4 percent in 2022-23 school year