Yew Chung to launch HK's first mainland-curriculum school

Expensive international school Yew Chung Yew Wah Education Network will operate Hong Kong's first mainland-curriculum school to teach 900 nonlocal primary and secondary students at a campus in Tin Shui Wai by 2026, the Education Bureau announced yesterday.

Yew Chung refused to reveal the tuition fee or the cost of building the school.

The school's students will take the Joint Entrance Exam for Universities for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan students and compete for seats in mainland universities, instead of targeting overseas top-flight universities Harvard and Oxford.

But the exam is generally much easier than the National College Entrance Examination, or Gaokao, for their mainland peers, with an undergraduate admission rate reaching 80 percent in recent years. That is twice as high as Gaokao.

The new school, Yew Wah School of Hong Kong, is expected to begin operations in the 2026-27 school year at the earliest, offering 12 years of primary and secondary mainland curriculum education and 900 school places.

The 93,000-square-foot site adjacent to the Hong Kong Wetland Park has been assigned to Yew Chung Yew Wah Education Network Ltd, which was among eight applicants expressing interest, the bureau said.

The project director of the new school, Ng Tak Kay, said primary and junior high school courses will be offered in the first three years. It will later provide senior high school courses as well as international curriculum.

He said the school will mainly admit students from mainland families in Hong Kong, as well as Hongkongers who plan to further study and develop their careers in the Greater Bay Area.

The deputy chief executive of Education Network, Esther Chan, said launching the first school providing mainland curriculum will cater to people's needs as the government is developing the Northern Metropolis and trying to attract mainland talent.

Chan said the school will hire mainland teachers.

"More than 1,200 teachers have joined our training program," she said. "But we also hope to attract mainland teachers with rich experience so we will recruit teachers from the entire country."

Yew Chung currently operates two campuses in Hong Kong.

Yew Chung International School offers kindergarten, primary and secondary courses and Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education teaches bachelor's or associate's degree courses.

Authorities said with the development of the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong's commitment to grooming mainland talent, the demand from mainland families in Hong Kong for mainland curriculum school places will rise.

"The establishment of a school offering mainland curriculum will address such a demand," a bureau spokesman said.

More than 50 international schools offer different nonlocal curricula in the city, allowing students whose parents work in Hong Kong to study and enroll in local schools upon return to their hometowns, the bureau said.

"Such schools play an instrumental role in attracting and retaining talent and investment."

Students taking the Joint Entrance Exam for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan face less pressure to be admitted to top universities in the mainland, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University.

They are also exempted from taking mandatory political theory classes during their undergraduate study.

A Hong Kong student named David, who took the exam after studying in a Guangzhou school and is now a student at the Renmin University of China, told The Standard the new school will provide another option for Hong Kong students.

David said the exam for Hongkongers is easier than Gaokao as fewer students are competing for university seats.

An education consulting service provider said many mainland families want their children to be admitted to the top universities by taking the exam in Hong Kong.

Students have to be a permanent resident of Hong Kong to take the exam so they have to stay at least seven years in the city, and a local school providing mainland courses will make it easier, she said.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com