Closing schools won't solve student decline

Administration officials should have a better plan to tackle the problem of a declining student population rather than simply closing schools, education leaders said.

Chim Hon-ming, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Island School Heads Association, said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor needs to offer a long-term solution in her policy address in October to tackle the problems.

The fall in the student population could be a great opportunity to promote small-class teaching as around 20 percent of local primary schools remain involved in large-class learning, he said.

In the recent emigration wave, Chim said, some schools lost 10 to 20 students from one level. And schools with a greater proportion of students from middle-class families suffered most.

Taking primary schools in Central and Western districts as an example, Chim said the number of students enrolling in primary one in the coming six years would be greatly reduced, causing principals to worry about class reductions or school closures.

Lin Chun-pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, said his organization has submitted suggestions for the policy address, including that Lam's administration puts more emphasis on keeping, attracting, developing and respecting teacher talent.

And Ho Hon-kuen, chairman of Education Convergence, said the Education Bureau and other government agencies should set up a mechanism to cope with fluctuations in the student population.

"Recently, some students who had left Hong Kong returned to local schools," said Ho. "Therefore, the Education Bureau needs to set up a policy with short-, medium- and long-term measures to cope with changes in student population."

Ho is a candidate for the Election Committee education subsector, and his suggestion came while he was alongside 12 other principals from the Education Professional Alliance as they announced candidacies in the education sub-sector.

Another candidate, Chiu Cheung-ki, said the bureau should consider population development such as mainlanders moving to Hong Kong when deciding to close schools.

Meanwhile, the Education Employees General Union, under the pro-establishment Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, has lately received 20 cases of teachers asking for help, and it is not known if they are cases the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union was unable to resolve before its recent disbandment.