4 Hong Kong schools to close as 9 seek mergers over insufficient enrolment

Four of 15 Hong Kong public primary schools at risk of closure due to insufficient enrolment plan to shut down, while nine are seeking to merge with other institutions, the Education Bureau has said.One intended to run Primary One classes privately from the coming school year, it said.The bureau said four schools would gradually wind down operations or at the latest end their services by the 2029-30 academic year, and nine had applied to merge with other institutions.But one of the institutions did not need to choose between closure or merger because it had benefited from arrangements introduced earlier to help schools that were merging, allowing it to join next year’s central Primary One allocation scheme directly.As many as 15 schools – the highest number in recent years – were barred from operating subsidised Primary One classes in the coming academic year because of insufficient enrolment.The institutions at risk – one government and 14 subsidised schools – have the option of closing, merging, or going private.