Price Memorial Catholic Primary School in Wong Tai Sin is one of two schools left with the options of running the primary one class with private funds, merge with other schools or close down.
The other one is Southern’s Aplichau Kaifong Primary School.
Outside the Wong Tai Sin school, a mother said that all three of her children attend the school or had done so, and she’s among parents who’re concerned it may be forced to close.
“My children and pupils like the school a lot, they like the teachers here,” she said. “When our children learned of the news, they were like, ‘oh why? I don’t want this,'”
“But we hope the school can continue and persist.”
School principal Maureen Ho said it notified parents of the news on Thursday night once the government announced the funding decision.
She said it’s early days still as to what will happen, but the school will discuss a way forward in an attempt to come up with the best arrangement for the pupils.
“When we got the news we found it regrettable and weren’t too happy. But it’s a decision made by the Education Bureau so we have to respect that,” Ho said.
“We care a lot about our pupils, so our management will discuss different plans with our council and sponsoring body, as well as education officials, to help them.”
Ho noted that the lack of pupils is a territory-wide issue, adding that the school particularly had trouble attracting new pupils because it is hard to get to.
In recent years, schools that faced the same problem could go private for a year and, once they were able to meet the minimum class intake of more than 16 pupils, resume receiving government funding.
However, the government changed the rule this week, requiring schools to operate a class with private funds for six years.
Education officials also said if schools take in less than 16 pupils again within that period, they won’t be allowed to go private again.
They said the change was made because the number of pupils projected to enter primary schools in the coming years is expected to drop by just over 11,000 to around 37,500 in 2031.
