China News Service, Hong Kong, March 23 (Reporter Han Xingtong) The Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers (Federation of Education) held a press conference on the 23rd to announce a survey that said that 90% of kindergartens in Hong Kong have fallen in enrollment and schools are facing financial pressure.
And more than 70% of the principals interviewed believed that the cause of the decline in the number of students was the epidemic.
The Federation of Educational Associations investigated the admission and operation of kindergartens in Hong Kong in mid-January and received responses from nearly 240 kindergartens within two weeks.
The survey found that, overall, the number of kindergarten students and new students applying for admission has shown a downward trend.
Ninety percent of kindergartens face the loss of students in the 2020/2021 school year, especially kindergartens that operate half-day classes or pre-school classes.
At the same time, more than 80% of half-day kindergartens reported that the number of students applying for half-day kindergarten (K1) in the 2021/2022 school year has decreased, with an average of about 30% less than last year.
As for the reasons for the decline in the number of students, the principals interviewed believed that it was due to the impact of the epidemic (77%), emigration to other places (54%), and a drop in the birth rate in the area where the school is located (50%).
Since the decrease in the number of students will directly lead to a decrease in kindergarten income, more than 70% of kindergartens indicated that the school is facing great financial difficulties or financial difficulties, and has a negative impact on school operations.
More than 70% of the schools need to cut staff, nearly 60% of the school reserves have been greatly reduced, and more than 50% of the school staff need to freeze their salaries.
Facing huge financial pressure, the kindergartens interviewed expect the SAR government to strengthen support, including increasing the amount of student unit cost subsidies, providing a one-time subsidy to preschool education institutions, providing short-term funding for nursery teachers employment, a new round of "special allowance for epidemic prevention", and approval Increase flexibility when adjusting tuition fees next year.
The Federation of Education also put forward many other feasible measures to optimize kindergarten education, including creating kindergarten administrative staff to support kindergarten accounting, clerical and information technology; resetting the salary scale of kindergarten teachers, and fully subsidizing kindergarten teachers' salaries by way of reimbursement.
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