Hong Kong authorities plan to offer more incentives to encourage school mergers and address declining birth rates through housing measures and tax reductions, according to a South China Morning Post report. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will reveal these details in his upcoming policy address. Currently, merging schools receive a one-off HK$1 million allowance, but additional unspecified benefits are expected to be announced this week. This comes after the Education Bureau reported that 15 primary schools were unable to secure enough students for the current academic year and will not offer subsidized Primary One classes.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-14,
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Story summary
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is expected to reveal new incentives in his policy address aimed at boosting the birth rate and encouraging school mergers due to declining student numbers. The government plans to offer additional financial support for under-enrolled public schools that merge, beyond the current HK$1 million (US$127,500) one-off allowance per merged primary school. In March, the Education Bureau announced that a record 15 primary schools would not be allowed to operate subsidized Primary One classes because they did not have enough students, highlighting the urgency of the situation. The policy address also anticipates housing measures and tax reductions to help tackle the declining birth rate in Hong Kong.
Written for “Hong Kong School Merger Deals” on 2026-09-14,
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No political leaning scored for article 8685 · logged 2026-09-14
Hong Kong to sweeten school merger deals, offer housing measures to lift births
Source tells SCMP that city leader John Lee will reveal additional incentives to boost births and encourage school mergers in policy address
Hong Kong authorities are expected to provide more incentives to encourage under-enrolled public schools to merge to survive, while announcing housing measures and tax reductions to tackle the falling birth rate in this week’s policy address, the South China Morning Post has learned.
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Post → sweeten → address
A government source told the South China Morning Post that the policy address by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Wednesday would offer additional incentives to encourage the merger of subsidised schools amid the shrinking student population.
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address → tell → population
Currently, if a primary school merges with another institution to allow the affected pupils to continue their studies, a one-off allowance of HK$1 million (US$127,500) will be granted to cover additional expenses.
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allowance → merge → expenses
In March, the Education Bureau announced that a record 15 primary schools would not be allowed to operate subsidised Primary One classes for this academic year because they had failed to secure at least 16 pupils.
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they → announce → pupils
