Guidance on school closure row

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has laid out four principles for Education Secretary Christine Choi Yuk-lin in handling the closure of Rosaryhill School after the institution was ordered to remove a student's video Saturday.

The Education Bureau said the video would negatively impact students.

Speaking to reporters before heading yesterday to Beijing for the Belt and Road Initiative forum, Lee said the Rosaryhill School site at Mid-Levels is privately owned by its sponsor Dominican Mission, and it was not the bureau's wish to close the school.

"It was the school sponsoring body that decided to cease the school's operation out of its own will, not the wish of the EDB," he said.

"Since the campus is privately owned by the sponsor, and it is not government land, I have instructed the EDB to handle the issue based on four principles."

The principles included guaranteeing students' learning opportunities, and maintaining communication between the sponsoring body, students, and parents in order to find an appropriate solution and launch it smoothly. Also, the EDB should provide full assistance to students who hope to transfer to a new school.

Last Wednesday, 49 Rosaryhill School students read out an open letter to Lee in a video, calling on the government to provide a building to keep their school alive.

They also urged authorities to review the mission's decision to stop running the school. As of Saturday, the video on YouTube was no longer accessible to the public.

In response to The Standard's inquiry, the EDB said it paid great attention to Rosaryhill School's closure and maintained close communication with the Dominican Mission to offer appropriate assistance, including helping students to transfer to other schools in the same district.

The EDB added it understood that the mission had seen progress after discussing feasible transitional arrangements with parents during a meeting on Saturday.

It also urged the mission to consider possible measures to support students and staff, offering students adequate emotional and counseling support.

"The school is responsible for ensuring students establish correct values and provide them with a good learning environment," the bureau said, adding it would take serious follow-up actions if it finds the school has any mismanagement.

"All actions that would affect students' physical and mental development must be stopped immediately."

Dominican Mission announced last month a merger of Rosaryhill's private kindergarten and primary school with privately operated Dalton School Hong Kong while closing the aided secondary section after the 2025/26 school year.

In the video, students, led by a secondary six boy Anselm Lam Cheuk-hay, said: "President Xi Jinping said that Hong Kong's future lies in the hands of youngsters. The future of students in Rosaryhill is in the hands of the government. We hope Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will pay attention to our future and give us a chance.

"We understand the difficulties of the sponsoring body, but we cannot and are not willing to accept it."

The students want authorities to provide a new school building for the secondary school students to enable them to "learn in a familiar and stable environment under the guidance of familiar teachers."

Responding to the video on Thursday, Choi said there was concern about the emotional state of students and hoped the sponsoring body would communicate with all concerned.