Schools with shrinking numbers must fix their own problems: Hong Kong education chief

Hong Kong’s education minister has said that schools struggling with insufficient student enrolment must evaluate their own performance in meeting parents’ expectations rather than relying on government intervention.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin also said the education sector should not insist on keeping the existing number of schools and emphasised a need for “metabolism” to ensure its vitality.

In an interview with local media last Friday, she said that the recent policy allowing schools that managed to operate four Form One classes to apply to run one more in the coming academic year was to “address parents’ needs and choice”.

Choi urged those schools with insufficient enrolment to reflect on their own performance, instead of simply hindering the development of more popular institutions.

“Schools finding it difficult to admit students throughout many years could not address parents’ and students’ needs. Why do they define themselves as weak schools and only ask authorities to take care of them? It should not be like this,” she said.

“Have they thought about the needs of the parents in their districts? What are the students’ needs and what could they provide for them and get their votes for the schools?”