Hong Kong Ming Pao reported that due to political instability, some Hong Kong people’s families are emigrating at a faster pace, and the wave of students dropping out of prestigious schools continues. Diocesan Girls’ College, in response to the school’s dropout situation, has recently adopted the rare practice of openly admitting students from Form 1 to Form 4 for the next semester of the current academic year (2020/21). Some educators describe the situation as rare, and believe it is related to the high turnover of students, before openly recruiting students for the next semester, do not rule out the implementation of the National Security Law of Hong Kong and the immigration plans announced by many countries for Hong Kong people as a “catalyst” for the wave of withdrawal. Another famous school, Ying Hwa College, lost about 50 students at the end of last school year, and more than 10 students dropped out this school year.
In response to the newspaper’s inquiry, Cheng Junjie, principal of Ying Hwa College, said that about 40 to 50 students from different classes did drop out at the end of last year’s semester and 11 or 12 students dropped out at the beginning of the new school year, admitting that the number was slightly higher than last year, “A few left last year and a dozen left this year,” and stressed that a similar number of interns had been recruited to fill the vacancies.
Ming Pao asked 12 traditional elite schools about the “wave of dropouts” and 6 of them replied to our inquiry. The main reasons for students to drop out are to study overseas or emigrate with their families.
It is noteworthy that Diocesan Girls’ College replied to this newspaper last month that since the beginning of the school year in September, the number of students who applied to withdraw from all levels is less than 10, but the school will consider accepting new students in the next semester and will disclose the details online this month. According to the school’s website, the school has already announced the details of the enrollment of students from Form 1 to Form 4 for the current school year.
The Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union and Member of the Legislative Council of the Education Sector Ip Kin-yuen also believes that some traditional elite schools have open enrollment for the next semester, which is believed to have a high attrition rate, but it is not new for students to drop out of elite schools in the middle of the year. However, he believes that the current social unrest, such as the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, is unsettling and “may increase the desire (of parents and students) to choose to leave”, adding that social events do not only affect some people, “both the Yellow and Blue camps lament that some people will leave”.
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