Hong Kong school facing risk of closure offers Primary One pupils a HK$10,000 scholarship, free books and uniforms to enrol, prompting rebuke by officials

A Hong Kong school facing the risk of closure has offered Primary One pupils a HK$10,000 (US$1,280) scholarship, free books and six sets of uniforms to enrol, prompting education authorities to warn the institution such incentives are “immoral”.

A spokesman for the Education Bureau on Tuesday hit out at the promotion and reminded CCC Cheung Chau Church Kam Kong School to follow government guidelines for admissions.

“Should there be any violations, the Education Bureau will deal with them seriously.”

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The school announced the offer on its website on Tuesday afternoon, but later replaced it with a reworded promotion after being approached by the media.

In the original post, the school indicated children enrolling in Primary One for the 2024-25 academic year would receive the gifts and scholarship “as a token of appreciation”.

The Cheung Chau institution later replaced the post with another stating the pupils would be “eligible to apply for” the HK$10,000 scholarship. But free uniforms and other sweeteners were no longer mentioned.

The spokesman for the bureau said guidelines stated schools should not use monetary incentives to attract or retain pupils, calling the move “inappropriate and immoral”.

“After learning about the incident, the Education Bureau immediately inquired about the situation from the relevant school and reminded it to follow the relevant guidelines to handle admission arrangements,” a spokesman said.

He said authorities had not yet received any complaints.

The school has been approached for comment.

It was one of five schools that did not secure the minimum 16 students in the Primary One admission system last year. It was approved to operate a single private Primary One class this year.

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But it must enrol at least 16 students to continue receiving government subsidies to run Primary One and Primary Two classes next year. Under standard procedures, it may face closure in three years because of the insufficient intake.

The offer of a scholarship and gifts comes amid the two-week discretionary stage of Primary One admission for 2024-25, which started last Thursday. Parents have until Friday to submit their applications, with results announced on November 20.

In Hong Kong, the number of Primary One pupils in public schools has continued to fall, hitting a new 12-year low with only 43,744 joining the admission system in the last academic year.

The school sector has struggled to survive amid the city’s shrinking population due to low birth rates and an emigration wave.

Chu Kwok-keung, a primary school principal and lawmaker representing the education constituency, said the offer by the Cheung Chau institution was clearly intended to attract students.

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He was worried that the situation would worsen, as he had learned some institutions with low enrolment were also using giveaways such as free school bus rides to entice applicants.

“One school can offer HK$10,000 to entice students, while the other can give HK$20,000 to woo students – the whole enrolment situation will then get distorted,” the lawmaker said with a sigh, urging the institutions to prove their quality instead of using financial incentives.

But he said he understood why they were forced to do so as educators felt the pressure to scramble for enrolments during the two-week Primary One admission phase to avoid being “culled” by authorities.

The lawmaker called on the government to introduce guidelines to curb the practice of offering financial sweeteners, saying the bureau “should assume its supervisory role”.