Over 20,000 Hong Kong school pupils at risk of dropping out, NGO warns

More than 20,000 Hong Kong students are at risk of dropping out of school, with about 60 per cent of them under the age of 15, an NGO has estimated, while calling for a rethink of measures to ensure youngsters are identified sooner.

Youth Outreach shared the results from its latest research report on Monday, estimating that 3.15 per cent of primary and secondary students in Hong Kong, or more than 20,000 pupils, were at risk of dropping out of full-time education.

Chan Ka-ling, assistant executive director for the NGO’s outreach services, urged the Education Bureau to improve its reporting mechanism for students skipping school, noting the current system failed to count pupils who attended lessons sparsely.

“Some students will not be reported when they go to school for one hour a week,” Chan said.

Schools are currently required to report pupils to the bureau if they are absent for more than seven consecutive days and are not receiving any other education locally.

But Chan said some potential dropouts did not conform to this rule, with NGO staff finding some youngsters were attending school for a few hours each week.

The NGO noted that about 60 per cent of those currently at risk of dropping out were below the age of 15.