Gov’t up educational grants to keep schools at disadvantage running – Secretary

Educational authorities have put aside as much as MOP1.58 billion (US$190 million) in subsidies for local schools, an increased amount that seeks to save schools without enough students from shutting down.

The 2023 budget was revealed yesterday by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U during a plenary session with lawmakers at the Legislative Assembly over her action plan for next year.

The official said that there would be an increase of MOP 18 million compared to this year’s budget, explaining that a falling birthrate is pushing some of the city’s schools into a financial predicament where they struggle to keep teachers on their payrolls.

The local birthrate, which hovered over 6,500 between 2012 and 2017, once soared to a record high of over 7,300 in 2014.

However, it plunged to a record low of slightly over 5,000 last year, with the figure projected to slide even further by the end of the year.

A class of 25 to 35 is currently considered standard in Macau. The secretary said that classes that do not meet that standard still receive adequate financial support to remain running.

 “If the government dished out its funding to each school based on its headcount, there would be schools closing down,” Ao said. “Some large-scale schools have between 1,000 and 2,000 students, while other small-scale schools have as few as scores of students. If we only look at headcounts, some schools can’t even afford to pay their teachers.”

In June this year, the government merged the Student Welfare Fund, the Education Development Fund, and the Higher Education Fund into one that is now called the Education Fund.

Authorities stressed that the merger did not result in any cut in their funding to local educational establishments, with all existing programmes still in place.