Another Hong Kong school announces it will close, citing shrinking school-age population

A Hong Kong primary school has said it will close in 2029 after more than 60 years of operation, making the announcement just two days after another educational institution revealed it would take over a private co-educational primary school as student numbers shrink.

The Precious Blood Primary School (Wah Fu Estate) in Pok Fu Lam on Saturday said it had decided not to admit any Primary One pupils in the 2025-26 academic year as it had been struggling with a decline in the school-age population since 2019. The school, established in 1968, will shut its doors in 2029.

“[We] would like to thank all the teachers, staff and workers for their hard work, selfless dedication and patience,” a school spokesman said.

Government statistics showed the number of children eligible for Form One will fall by nearly 14 per cent to 60,000 in 2029 from the current 71,600. The city has recorded a wave of emigration in recent years and is contending with one of the lowest birth rates in the world. As a result, the government has been encouraging secondary schools to merge with others.

On Friday, the Dalton School Hong Kong said it would assume stewardship of the Rosaryhill Kindergarten and Rosaryhill School in the Mid-Levels in the 2024-25 academic year. They will merge with Dalton’s primary schools and kindergartens.

But the Rosaryhill Secondary School will stop admitting new students from the 2024 school year and pivot to a private funding model the following academic year.

The Education Bureau said it has learned that Rosaryhill Secondary School, an aided institution, has decided to “reorganise resources”.

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“Starting from the 2024-25 school year, it will not participate in the secondary school place allocation system and stop admitting Secondary One students and will gradually cease offering services at Secondary One to Six levels,” a bureau spokesman said.

It confirmed it would provide appropriate assistance to students and parents in finding alternative placements.

In March, the Tak Nga Primary School in Kowloon Tong became the first educational institution to cease operations citing a decline in the student population caused by the emigration wave.

The private school’s sponsoring body said in a letter that it had failed to admit enough pupils since 2018.

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The bureau earlier informed more than 400 aided and government schools that they would not be allowed to open more classes in the future if they only managed to bring in enough students for two Form One classes for two consecutive academic years.