A press release from the Confucian Academy Grand Achievements Primary School in Wong Tai Sin District, Hong Kong, announced last Saturday (15th) that they will stop admitting new students for Primary One in the 2025/26 academic year and cease operations after the 26/27 academic year. Principal Yuen Poon Suk Han and several members of the school’s board of directors held a press conference the day before yesterday, expressing that they were unaware of the decision made by the school operator, the Confucian Academy. The Education Bureau announced the night before that they would appoint board directors to join the school’s board of directors to assist in fulfilling their responsibilities. Yuen Poon Suk Han welcomed the Education Bureau’s decision.
The Education Bureau stated the night before that they had met with the school operator and the principal multiple times to discuss transition plans, but both sides failed to reach a consensus. They believed that the school management was ineffective and decided to appoint board directors to join the school’s board of directors to assist in fulfilling their responsibilities.
Yuen Poon Suk Han responded to the Education Bureau’s appointment of board directors yesterday morning, expressing that the current issue lies in the school operator failing to extensively consult stakeholders on the plan to cease operations. She welcomed the Education Bureau’s intervention. However, she emphasized that the incident has nothing to do with the school’s regular management and hoped the Education Bureau would clarify the meaning of “ineffective management” to prevent misinterpretation and confusion.
Senior retired principal Lui Kei Cheung, who has been appointed by the Education Bureau to serve as a board director at other schools, expressed on a radio program yesterday that due to the declining number of eligible students in Hong Kong, school operators are constantly concerned about school closure. Therefore, he speculated that they may wish to return the school management rights to the Education Bureau in a more dignified way. However, Lui Kei Cheung pointed out that according to media reports, the sudden announcement of the closure of the Confucian Academy was considered rather abrupt.
Lui Kei Cheung mentioned that many school board directors of school operators are prominent figures who do not want their schools to face closure or deal with emergency issues every year. Therefore, they may consider directly closing the school as a way to resolve all issues at once. Lui Kei Cheung emphasized that even if ending school operations, there are many issues that need to be resolved, with the priority being the interests of the students, followed by the school staff. “It’s not acceptable to suddenly cause a dozen or twenty teachers and staff to lose their jobs; what would they do then? This becomes a social problem.”
Lui Kei Cheung indicated that the Education Bureau-appointed board directors primarily aim to understand the full context of the situation, explain feasible handling solutions to all parties, and facilitate communication as much as possible. If the school operator refuses to cooperate with the procedures, the appointed board directors will report back to the Education Bureau, who will then make decisions according to the Education Ordinance. He stressed that school operators have a responsibility to ensure the interests of all stakeholders are protected and should not be obstinate in their decisions.