News: Hong Kong schools record net student rise for 2 years straight
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Hong Kong school enrollment rose by 7,200 in 2025, marking two straight years of recovery after a decade of decline
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New talent admission schemes brought over 165,000 underage dependants to Hong Kong, reversing years of student population losses
Hong Kong schools have recorded net increases in student numbers for two consecutive years. The current academic year has seen an increase of about 7,200 pupils.
An industry leader said this growth is due to the rise in the number of dependents of people who moved to Hong Kong under various talent schemes.
The Education Bureau published enrolment figures on its website on April 28.
The data covers all government, aided, private, international and direct subsidy scheme schools at the time of the annual headcount exercise.
To determine the population change, the South China Morning Post calculated net increases by comparing enrolment figures for Kindergarten One to Form Five in September 2024 with those for Kindergarten Two to Form Six a year later.
This method accounts for the natural progression of students advancing one grade each year.
The tally excluded the 2024-25 Form Six students, who completed their schooling a year later.
Total student numbers rose from about 733,593 to 740,819 – a 1 per cent increase. The net gain in students for the current school year was 7,229, compared with the previous year.
The increase was sharper than in September 2024, when the net increase stood at about 4,500, compared with September 2023.
This marked the second straight year that schools recorded a net increase in students. A previous emigration wave had tapered following the 2019 social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The South China Morning Post found that no annual net increases were recorded in the 10 years before 2024 and 2025. The city generally lost several thousand students a year due to drop-outs and the pursuit of overseas studies.
During the peak years of student loss in 2022 and 2023, numbers fell by about 30,000 annually.
The figures changed from a net decrease to a net increase in 2024. It was about a year after the Top Talent Pass Scheme was launched and the annual quota for the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme was removed.
According to government data from April, about 165,350 dependents aged under 18 have been approved to come to Hong Kong since 2023 through seven different talent schemes.
Staff writers
Question prompts
1. Which of the following statements are false, according to the information in the news?
(1) Hong Kong schools recorded a consistent annual net increase in students throughout the decade leading up to 2024.
(2) Total student numbers in the current school year rose by 1 per cent, reaching a total of over 740,000 pupils.
(3) The net gain of students in September 2024 was larger than the net gain recorded for the current school year.
(4) Over 160,000 under-18 dependants have been approved to come to Hong Kong through various talent schemes since 2023.
A. (1), (2) only
B. (1), (3) only
C. (2), (4) only
D. (3), (4) only
2. List two policy changes that contributed to the shift from a net decrease to a net increase in Hong Kong student numbers starting in 2024.
3. Why is it necessary to track specific student cohorts over time rather than simply comparing the total headcount of the same grade levels year over year? Explain using the news and your own knowledge.
Graph
Question prompts
1. Based on the chart, in which specific year did Hong Kong experience its steepest drop in student numbers, and approximately how many students were lost that year?
2. How does the graph reflect the impact of the city’s talent admission schemes? Explain using the news and your own knowledge.
Glossary
net increases: the overall positive change in a number, calculated by subtracting all losses from all gains
emigration: the act of leaving one’s own country to live permanently in another. In Hong Kong, the net outflow of residents peaked at 89,200 from mid-2020 to mid-2021, coinciding with Britain’s introduction of a specific immigration pathway in response to Beijing’s implementation of the national security law. However, this net outflow decreased to 60,000 in 2022.
Top Talent Pass Scheme: a pathway to move to Hong Kong launched in December 2022. It is available to candidates who earned more than HK$2.5 million (US$320,000) in the past 12 months and those who have graduated from one of the world’s top 100 universities.
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme: a points-based quality migrant scheme launched in 2006 that allows successful applicants to come to the city, along with their dependants, without securing a local employment offer. In 2022, the scheme’s annual limit of 4,000 was lifted.
Sample answers
News:
1. B
2. The launch of the Top Talent Pass Scheme and the removal of the annual quota for the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.
3. Tracking specific cohorts over time is essential because it reflects the natural progression of students advancing to higher grade levels each year. This approach enables researchers to accurately measure population gains or losses. Simply comparing static grade levels from one year to the next can be misleading, as it overlooks important factors such as dropouts, students leaving for overseas studies, new arrivals, and the annual graduation of Form Six students. (Other possible answers are accepted)
Chart:
1. According to the chart, the lowest point of student loss occurred in 2022, when the net drop reached its minimum level. This aligns with the peak years of student loss, 2022 and 2023, when the numbers decreased by approximately 30,000 to 33,000 annually.
2. The trend line indicates a significant and steady increase that begins after 2022. It crosses the zero baseline into positive territory in 2024, confirming that student numbers transitioned from a net decrease to a net increase one year after the launch of the new talent.
