Hong Kong kindergarten closures loom amid low birth rates, 40 schools at risk
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Hong Kong kindergarten closures loom amid low birth rates, 40 schools at risk

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Kindergarten children pose for pictures at The Mills in Tsuen Wan. (Photo: South China Morning Post)
Kindergarten children pose for pictures at The Mills in Tsuen Wan. (Photo: South China Morning Post)

About 40 kindergartens are expected to close down in Hong Kong by the end of this school year due to the effects of the city's record low birth rate in 2022, operators have said, with the education minister suggesting campus relocation as one solution for survival.

A sector leader also revealed some kindergartens only received four to five application forms for Kindergarten One (K1) admission in the coming September and might need to wind down operations.

There was a record low of 32,500 babies born in Hong Kong in 2022.

Toddlers who are aged two years and eight months or above can start entering K1, which means babies born in 2022 will enter kindergarten in the coming September.

The registration for K1 in subsidised preschools in Hong Kong was held between Jan 2 and 4.

Various preschools and school-sponsoring bodies have been ramping up promotional efforts to parents, but the number of births in 2022 and 2023 plunged by 40% compared with the years before the social unrest and pandemic.

"Some principals said our sector had formally stepped into a period of 'big chill'. I also feel the same," Nancy Lam Chui-ling, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers and a kindergarten principal, told the South China Morning Post.

She said the industry would face its most serious tide of closures, with about 40 preschools expected to close down by the end of this school year.

According to the Education Bureau's assessment of the situation as of December last year, 10 kindergartens would cease operations during or by the end of this school year, while only one operator was applying for registration.

During the last school year, 11 preschools ceased operations and another five were newly registered.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said last month that the bureau had already doubled the grant to HK$3 million (13 million baht) for preschools to relocate to new sites from ageing areas in 2022.

"Even if I gave [the schools] three times the subsidies for a pupil, they can hardly admit pupils as there are no children in the ageing areas. So it is better for them to move to new places that have a demand for preschools," she said.

She said public resources should be used efficiently, rather than merely sustaining the number of preschools, given that the city's population was in structural decline.

A spokeswoman for the bureau said all kindergartens in Hong Kong were privately operated.

"Every year, there may be new registrations or closures of kindergartens owing to a variety of factors such as profitability and tenancy matters," she said.

Principal Lam said: "Some kindergartens that received four to five applications told me they will be eating into their reserves and closing down."

She added the outlook for the preschool sector was gloomier and had deterred fresh graduates from joining the industry.

The number of births rose slightly to about 33,200 in 2023 after the record low the year before, with the city recording 33,500 births in the first 11 months of 2024.

Lam, whose institution is a preschool receiving government subsidies, said some elite and prominent independent or international preschools received many applications and kept a very long waiting list as they could design their own curriculum, which was free from government supervision.

"Their curriculum is more advanced and difficult and most parents prefer it as it can help their children to get into popular private or semi-private schools," she said.

Lam said subsidised kindergartens had to abide by the government's guide for the curriculum, which was less difficult.

Another principal from a subsidised preschool, who spoke on condition of anonymity, shared the same sentiment.

"The admission situation is dire as there are insufficient children in the city and the competition among schools is keen," she said.

She revealed that some preschools required parents to pay registration fees and submit certificates for admission to schools in advance of official registration days, which kindergartens could use to qualify for government subsidies.

"If parents pay the fees and submit the certificate, they will tend to not switch to other schools, but it also means the kindergartens jumped the gun in admitting students," the second principal said, revealing it was one of the tactics used to retain applicants besides various giveaways.

The yearly grant for each subsidised kindergarten is based on the number of students enrolled - HK$39,200 for half-day, HK$50,960 for whole-day and HK$62,720 for "long whole-day" sessions in the 2024-25 school year.

With insufficient numbers of students, afternoon sessions faced serious under-enrolment problems as most parents preferred morning ones or the whole-day session.

The second principal said more teachers might also lose their jobs by the end of the school year.

She added the children of mainland Chinese talent moving to Hong Kong under the various admission schemes had a minimal impact on boosting enrolment.

"Most of the talent will not choose to move to Hong Kong when their children are so young. Secondary school would benefit more instead," she said.

She also agreed that the advanced curriculum of private independent preschools had created strong demand among parents and urged the government to allow subsidised kindergartens to have more flexibility to design their courses.

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