Education | Non-tertiary student population grows 2.7percent

The total number of non-tertiary education students in the new academic year has reached almost 79,100, up by 2.7 percent compared with 77,000 last year, marking the fourth consecutive year of growth in the number of students in the MSAR.

According to data released yesterday by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), the latest estimate for kindergarten students in the 2017/18 school year is about 19,000, representing an increase of 6.6 percent compared with the previous year.

At the same time, around 30,700 primary school students are accounted for in the new school year, up by 5.5 percent year-on-year, while 28,500 secondary students are expected, down by 2.8 percent.

According to the DSEJ, the increase in the number of kindergarten and primary school students has warranted an increase in the demand for teachers at this education level. Conversely, the opposite has been observed in the area of secondary school education. The total number of teaching staff is 7,600 for the school year ahead, marking an increase of 3.6 percent compared with September last year.

The estimated average class sizes for kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools are 29.5 students, 29.6 students and 27.7 students respectively, marking progress along the government’s goal to seek smaller class sizes.

At the start of the new academic year, there are 77 schools and 122 school units in Macau. The number of school units that have joined the free education school system have increased from 96 last year to 105, indicating that the coverage of the free education system has increased from 89 percent to 94 percent. The number of students covered is almost 70,000.

The DSEJ noted that Portuguese courses will continue to be listed as a “priority funded item” in education. Schools are subsidized through the School Development Fund to employ qualified teachers to teach Portuguese.