About 40 kindergartens are expected to close down in Hong Kong by the end of this school year due to the effects of the city’s record low birth rate in 2022, operators have said, with the education minister suggesting campus relocation as one solution for survival.
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A sector leader also revealed some kindergartens only received four to five application forms for Kindergarten One (K1) admission in the coming September and might need to wind down operations.
There was a record low of 32,500 babies born in Hong Kong in 2022.
Toddlers who are aged two years and eight months or above can start entering K1, which means babies born in 2022 will enter kindergarten in the coming September.
The registration for K1 in subsidised preschools in Hong Kong was held between January 2 and 4.
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Various preschools and school-sponsoring bodies have been ramping up promotional efforts to parents, but the number of births in 2022 and 2023 plunged by 40 per cent compared with the years before the social unrest and pandemic.