A prestigious Hong Kong kindergarten has announced that it will close down in three years, citing low birth rates, emigration of young families and staff retirement.
In a letter seen by the Post, Kentville Kindergarten on Friday told parents that the institution, located in Kowloon Tong, had reached the “difficult decision” after “a great deal of careful thought and deliberation”.
“It will not come as news to you that kindergartens face strong headwinds in Hong Kong now. The challenges include all-time low birth rates and emigration of young families in our target age group,” school supervisor Helen Wong Wai-han wrote.
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“Also critically in our case, we face the impending retirement of [the] supervisor, headmistress and a large number of senior teachers. Regrettably, because of these factors, we are unable to continue to offer the quality of education parents have come to expect [in the] long-term from Kentville.”
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The kindergarten said it typically had 500 children in K1 classes, but the number had dropped to only 300 in the 2023-24 academic year, representing a 40 per cent decline in enrolment.
In a press statement on Friday, the preschool said it employed 74 staff members and 30 per cent of them had reached or were approaching retirement age.
It said it “must” shut down operations by the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Under the three-year closure plan, the school will stop admitting K1 pupils for the next academic year.
Wong said the school would “operate as normal” by offering K2 and K3 classes in the next academic year on the condition that a minimum of 400 students were enrolled in total.
She said she believed the school could continue to offer these classes in the 2025-26 academic year as it was expecting a minimum of 200 K3 students.
The kindergarten said it had informed the Education Bureau about its decision.
The private institution, founded in 1966, said it had more than 30,000 graduates and it charged HK$46,000 per pupil annually to enrol for its half-day sessions.
As of September 2021, it had more than 1,500 students, according to official figures.
The city has been hit by a double whammy of low birth rates and an emigration wave. Several countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain have offered pathways for Hongkongers to secure permanent residency following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020.
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The number of newborns in the city stood at 53,700 in 2018, with most of these children now in K3. But the birth figure slid to 43,000 in 2020, with these children now mostly reaching the age for K1.
The number continued to slide through 2021 and 2022, as only 37,000 and 32,500 babies were born in those years respectively.
Mother of two Charmaine Chan, whose three-year-old son is now in K1, said most parents were very shocked and sorry to hear of the news.
She said a poll in a WhatsApp group containing more than 340 parents indicated that about 90 would keep their children at the school until it closed, with none intending to withdraw.
She said the institution was popular and renowned for its training of children’s self-care abilities and its organised administration, which made parents feel the school could be trusted.
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“I originally planned to let my daughter study at this school, but now my elder son will be in its last batch of students,” Chan said.
She also noticed some senior educators at the kindergarten were ageing, but her son’s teachers were young.
Choi Lai-fong, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said more private preschools would close because of the emigration wave and low birth rates, and this situation was already expected last year.
“Young families are the main group of parents signing up for private kindergartens, but they now tend to emigrate and most of the young couples tend not to have kids,” school supervisor Wong said.
She expected at least 20 preschools would start closing in the two coming years due to the low birth rate and the emigration wave.
She called on the owner of her school’s premises to reduce the rent to ease their financial burden in its final years.
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