Due to the ageing population, there are an increasing number of schools and institutions that are now faced with a reduced size of student which cannot support its operation. The Ministry of Education is looking at a number of schemes to help privately-established institutions to respond to the challenge, including relocation of students to other institutions, disbanding teach staff, and organisational transformation.

In addition, the Ministry of Education proposes to amend Private School Law to relax the regulations applicable to the closure of private education establishments, allowing the founder(s) to retrieve part of the initial investment, so as to incentivise private institutions to actively develop their exit strategies.    

It was expected that there would be more institutions affected by the reduced student body, and in order to ease the financial pressure, some private institutions have also expanded their recruitment activities in south east Asia and China, reported United Daily.