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Policy Address

Handle Declining Student Population in a Pragmatic Manner

126. Given the structural decline in Hong Kong's student population, the Government will keep the actual situation of primary and secondary school places under review. We will adopt the target of "soft landing" and rationalise the demand and supply of school places in a pragmatic manner, with the interests of students and education quality as our priority considerations. We will maintain close communication with school sponsoring bodies and assist the sector in planning ahead through strategies such as suspending plans to operate new schools, relocating and merging schools, etc. The use of resources will be optimised to enhance education quality. The Government will continue to implement small class teaching in public sector primary schools in an orderly manner, achieving small class teaching in over 90% of these schools after two school years.

Other Support Measures

127. The EDB will continue to support different aspects of education:

  1. kindergarten education – A one-off grant of $60 million in total will be provided to all kindergartens joining the KES to assist their development into "smart kindergartens" through digitalising school administration and enhancing work efficiency. Moreover, a subsidy of $30 million in total will be provided to KES kindergartens for the creation of "healthy schools" by improving the ventilation of school premises; and

  2. special education – Starting from the current school year, hospital schools will be provided with additional resources to provide hospitalised students suffering from injuries or diseases with a holistic senior secondary curriculum and enhanced life planning education, with a view to facilitating their re-integration into mainstream schools after recovery. The Strength-based Programme under the Project on Whole School Approach to Providing Tiered Support for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder will also be expanded to help senior secondary students with autism spectrum disorder unleash their potential and strengthen their life planning. This will benefit about 100 secondary schools.