Elite schools feel pinch as exodus picks up pace

Some elite schools are seeing an exodus of students as an increasing number of middle-class families choose to emigrate overseas due to the unrest.

In a investigative report, Eastweek magazine, The Standard's sister publication, reported that Diocesan Girls' Junior School is among the schools that have been seeing this trend in recent years.

More than 20 of its students have dropped out this year compared to 2019, including five to six primary one students.

Kiangsu & Chekiang Primary School in North Point is also facing the same dilemma. In a primary six class that was supposed to have 28 pupils, 10 have dropped out.

Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School is preparing for loss of students. A parent said its principal had announced the establishment of two more primary one classes to offset the problem.

The principal is also said to have warned parents the school may charge higher fees if too many students drop out.

Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association honorary chairman Lam Seung-wan said elite schools are facing an exodus of mostly primary three or four pupils.

"In the past, only two or three students in the same grade would drop out every year, but the situation is clearly different this year," he said. "Some schools have seen more than 20 students drop out and emigrate overseas in a grade with 120 students, 10 times higher than previous years."

Lam also said parents would usually arrange for children to finish primary school here first, and students would only study abroad after they had been admitted to preferred middle schools overseas.

"Due to the unrest, parents are losing confidence in the education system," he said. "Parents with savings are sending children abroad as soon as possible. Some families are even choosing to emigrate together."

A mother of twin sons, Lee, said they decided to move to London next year after last month's announcement that BNO passport holders can apply for a special visa that lets them study or work for five years.

Lee said she wants her sons to study in Hong Kong first, as they had just been admitted to a middle school, but that she also considered taking them out of school immediately and going abroad to get used to a foreign environment.

Yiu Tai-wai, founder of Hopeland Academic, which provides overseas study advice and assistance, said it has received twice as many inquiries as usual.

Yiu said families usually asked about UK boarding schools before, but now most of them are interested in public schools, as the whole families will emigrate and the children do not need boarding.

Separately, kindergartens are struggling financially amid the pandemic.

Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union's ordinary executive committee member Cindy Wong Suk-fong said around 45 percent of full-time kindergartens and 80 percent kindergartens with preschool classes are facing the possibility that half of their pupils will drop out in the new academic year.

"Around 40 percent of kindergartens only have savings for the next six months and may close at any time," she said, calling for a subsidy to help kindergartens see the crisis through.