Hong Kong: some schools face closure as birthrate and exodus take toll

Five schools preparing to close, according to local report, with others made to merge amid falling school enrolment numbers

Hong Kong schools are being forced to merge or prepare for closure as a decade-long decline in the birthrate and a recent exodus of residents from the city has led to a plunge in student numbers.

Local media have reported that at least five schools face closure in coming years after they failed to reach the minimum 16 enrolments in the first grade. There have been two recent cases of schools merging with each other due to insufficient student numbers.