It has been widely reported that the school dropout rate for the 2020/21 school year was at a record high compared to the previous five year ago. According to the Sing Tao Daily, over 14,000 pupils withdrew their places from local schools last year, accounting for 2.3% of the entire 2020-21 cohort. Amongst the withdrawals, 9,200 were from secondary schools and 4,900 were from primary schools. Notably primary schools withdrawals were 22 times higher than the previous year.

Private schools (including international curriculum schools) at both primary and secondary education level were more impacted than publicly funded schools.    

According to local news reports, local school representatives stated that the situation could be attributed to the socio-political unrest since 2019. A spokesperson from a publicly funded primary school association predicted that the situation might worsen in the next school year as some families may wish to transfer their children to private schools which deliver international curriculum programmes (e.g. IB) in the interest of preparing them for study abroad in future.

In addition to withdrawals from schools, withdrawals from local universities has also been reported. In early March, the statistics published by University Grants Committee (UGC) showed that 2,121 students withdrew from the eight publicly founded universities during the 2019-20 academic year. 85% of them (1,804) were at Undergraduate degree level.

Sources: various local (Chinese) media, including Sing Tao Daily, Apple Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times.

Comments by Karen Hsu, Education Services Manager for Hong Kong
Concerns over future uncertainty in the city’s political and economic environment have made an impact on local parents’ education plans for their children. Pre-registration for the Study UK Schools and Colleges Webinar Series in February this year showed a growing interest for the UK’s Primary and Secondary Education from Hong Kong. 30% of parents indicated that they were looking for information about UK primary schools, which is about 20% higher than the level of interest that was recorded at Study UK fairs between 2018 and 2019.

In terms of the information on when they expect to leave, 89% of the parents (157 out of 176) with a teenage child planned to send their children to study at a Secondary school overseas within 2 years. As for the Primary education level, 80% of respondents (43 out of 54) indicated that they planned to leave with their children for overseas study within 2 years. We anticipate demand for UK education from Hong Kong will continue to grow in the coming years.