Following is a question by the Hon Tang Fei and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (October 14):
 
Question:
 
     Given the changes in the school-age population, the Chief Executive has proposed the "Confluence and Elevation - School Excellence Project" in the 2026 Policy Address to encourage mergers of suitable publicly-funded primary and secondary schools, consolidating resources and raising the quality of education. Regarding the specific arrangements of the Project, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) when the specific implementation timetable, eligibility criteria and vetting and approval criteria of the Project will be announced; how the authorities will assess the scope of operation and resource integration of schools after mergers, so as to ensure that the Project achieves the policy objective of raising the quality of education;
 
(2) what measures the authorities have in place to support schools in addressing the issues of manpower deployment for teachers and utilisation of school premises arising from mergers, including whether transitional arrangements for teachers will be provided, and whether the consolidation of school premises and operational resources will be co-ordinated, thereby assisting school sponsoring bodies in implementing mergers smoothly and raising the quality of education; and
 
(3) whether the Project will allow mergers of schools under different funding modes; if so, how the authorities will formulate proper transition arrangements in respect of tuition fees, student admission mechanism, utilisation of school premises and resource deployment when handling mergers involving aided and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, so as to assist the schools concerned in achieving a smooth transition?
 
Reply:

President,

     The National 15th Five-Year Plan expressly advocates expanding excellence and enhancing quality in basic education. It also emphasises the importance of stepping up the dynamic adjustment of resources for basic education and their cross-level reallocation to address surpluses and shortfalls, whilst enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. To align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan sets out a development direction for continuous enhancement of the quality of basic education in the face of the challenges brought about by a structural decline in school-age population. As announced in the 2026 Policy Address, the Education Bureau (EDB) will launch the "Confluence and Elevation - School Excellence Project" for publicly-funded schools within the 2026/27 school year, which aims to optimise the allocation of education resources and develop quality education in response to parents' aspirations for high-quality schools.

     In fact, schools are places for nurturing the whole-person development of students. Maintaining an appropriate size of the overall student population and the number of classes are beneficial to creating a conducive teaching and learning environment and providing opportunities for group learning to facilitate students' all-round development. To this end, the Project aims to encourage schools to strive for expanding excellence and enhancing quality, consolidate their strengths for better synergy and expand their operation scale, thereby achieving the synergy effect of "one plus one is greater than two" in quality enhancement. The EDB will introduce more facilitation measures and remove policy barriers for publicly-funded schools approved to participate in the Project, so as to support them in seeking confluence and elevation.

     Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Tang Fei is as follows:

(1) and (2) It is expected that schools participating in the Project will undergo a comprehensive upgrade of their physical infrastructure, such as school premises and facilities, and allocate abundant manpower and resources to provide students with a higher quality of education. At present, the EDB is collecting views on the support and facilitation measures under the Project from representatives of the school sector, with a view to finalising the implementation details, such as whether there is a need to set an application threshold based on school scale (e.g. a requirement on the number of approved classes), the feasibility of merging schools across different finance types, whether arrangements will be in place for the flexible use of school premises upon merger, as well as the provision of additional resources and manpower during the transitional period. The EDB will work swiftly to sort out and refine the details, with a target of launching the Project within the 2026/27 school year for application by eligible schools. We will prudently consider each application to ensure that the approved cases are in line with the policy objectives and principles.

(3) Based on past experience, there has been a merger between a Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) secondary school and an aided secondary school, after which the merged school has continued to operate as an aided school. Currently, the EDB is studying the feasible options for joint operation of schools of different finance types to ensure that the numbers of both aided and DSS schools will not increase following the mergers, so as to stabilise the education ecosystem. As for government schools, only mergers among government schools are possible given their unique staff establishment and finance type.

     We have to emphasise that, regardless of whether the schools participating in the Project are under the same school sponsoring bodies (SSBs), they must give due consideration to the district and school circumstances as well as students' interests, and maintain communication with stakeholders prior to making a decision to join the Project. For merger proposals involving schools of different finance types, the schools must thoroughly consult various stakeholders (including school staff, parents and students) about relevant arrangements, such as the appointment terms for staff, tuition fees, school premises and curriculum arrangements. Merger proposals should be taken forward subject to effective communication with stakeholders.

     The EDB established the Task Force on Supporting the Sustainable Development of Public Sector Schools in March 2026, which is led by a directorate officer of the EDB and comprises officers from the School Development Sections of the Regional Education Offices of the EDB, experienced retired principals and stakeholder representatives. The Task Force provides professional advice for the school sector on planning the way forward and assists schools in achieving a smooth transition and continuous development. Moreover, members of the Task Force play a facilitating and supporting role in the process. Apart from helping SSBs reach a consensus with stakeholders after thorough communication, the members also offer suitable advice based on schools' actual needs and support them in consolidating resources as well as taking forward the implementation and related arrangements for the merger proposals in light of local circumstances.

     President, the EDB's aim in addressing the structural decline in school-age population is crystal clear. We will accord top priority to the interests of students while ensuring healthy and sustainable development of our education system. Amid the structural decline in school-age population, apart from our efforts to strive for a "soft landing", the EDB must seek to advance the development of quality education in Hong Kong to turn a possible crisis into opportunities. Therefore, we encourage SSBs to plan ahead for long-term school development and support their proactive formulation of plans to consolidate resources and enhance the quality of education.

     The EDB will maintain communication with the sector and continue to review the prevailing policies and options with respect to class structures and school development with a focus on enhancing the overall education quality, so as to provide students with more opportunities to receive quality education in schools of higher quality, larger scale and higher efficiency.

     Thank you, President.

Ends/Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Issued at HKT 16:35

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