Hong Kong to offer incentives for school mergers amid shrinking student population

Hong Kong education authorities will offer a “very attractive” proposal and policy support to encourage schools without survival issues to merge amid the shrinking student population, according to official sources.

The government said it might allow aided schools and semi-private Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) schools to merge and operate across two campuses, though all arrangements remained subject to the forthcoming announcement of further details.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced that the government would launch the “Confluence and Elevation – School Excellence Project” for publicly funded schools in the 2026-27 school year.

“This will encourage and support mergers of suitable publicly funded primary and secondary schools, consolidating resources and raising the quality of education,” he said.