Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Many schools in Hong Kong are closing because not enough students are enrolled. This is worrying for families with children who have special educational needs (SEN). Parents feel that the schools facing closure often give better SEN support than other schools.
Last month, the Education Bureau said that 15 public primary schools were at risk of closure. These schools cannot run subsidised Primary One classes in the next school year because they do not have enough pupils.
Marcia Ng Mun-chi runs a Hong Kong group that raises awareness about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She said parents preferred the schools at risk of closing after seeing their children struggle in mainstream schools, especially elite ones.
“The strength of these schools is that they offer small class sizes, which SEN students need the most,” she said.
Ng urged officials not to shut down schools based only on the number of applications. She said they should consider those schools’ strengths in caring for students with special needs.
Still, Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said SEN pupils would be cared for in existing schools and that they should be integrated.
