2 Hong Kong schools with scant Primary One enrolment eye privatisation, merger

Two public schools in Hong Kong with insufficient enrolment hope to press on with running Primary One classes by operating on a private basis or merging with another institution amid the city’s shrinking student population.

Aplichau Kaifong Primary School in Southern district’s Ap Lei Chau announced on Thursday that its incorporated management committee, the institution’s governing body, had decided to apply to the Education Bureau to operate Primary One classes in the coming academic year on a self-financed basis.

“Different stakeholders unanimously support the school to continue operating,” it announced on its website and social media platforms, without mentioning specific financial plans.

The announcement came two weeks after education authorities told the school and another institution, Price Memorial Catholic Primary School in Wong Tai Sin, that they would not be allowed to run any subsidised Primary One classes in the 2025-26 academic year after failing to secure enough pupils.

Education authorities earlier said the number of Primary One pupils in the city was expected to drop from 48,600 this year to 37,500 in 2031.

Aplichau Kaifong Primary School currently runs eight classes – one each from Primary One to Four and two each in Primary Five and Six. Its decision to run its coming Primary One class as a private operation will come with greater challenges than those picking this option in previous years.

The Education Bureau earlier this month announced a rule change in which schools running self-financed Primary One classes would have to fund them fully until the cohort graduated from Primary Six – that is, they would not be allowed to turn the classes into subsidised ones even if they received a government subsidy after hitting sufficient enrolment numbers in the subsequent year.