Early exit rates at elite Hong Kong secondary schools drop sharply
The Post reviews 14 schools, finding fewer students leaving for second straight year and most departure rates lower than before emigration wave
The number of students withdrawing early from Hong Kong’s elite and popular secondary schools fell sharply in the last academic year, as most recorded levels that were even lower than before the city’s emigration wave.
The Post reviewed the annual reports of 14 top schools and found the withdrawal rates had declined for the second year in a row. The figures emerged just weeks after the UK said the number of fresh applications for a bespoke immigration pathway for Hongkongers fell to 5,102 in the third quarter of this year.
Applications for the British National (Overseas) Visa scheme have fallen from a peak of more than 30,000 in each of the first two quarters of 2021.
Lee Yi-ying, the chairwoman of the Subsidised Secondary Schools Council, said the early exit rate in most schools had been slowing further after beginning to fall in 2022-23.
“The rate definitely came down from the peak from two to three years ago, and we saw the number of students studying in junior forms withdrawing from schools has been decreasing,” she said.
Lee said most students withdrawing early in recent years either chose to study overseas independently or emigrated with their families.
