Are HK's 'stressful' pre-school interviews helpful or harmful?

There are concerns that the admissions practice pigeonholes children too early on in life and perpetuates social inequalities, among other things.

- Magdalene Fung

Ms Joanne Tsang, executive director of the Singapore International School (Hong Kong)'s preparatory years programme, with pupils from the school in Hong Kong. Admissions interviews are conducted to understand each child's individual growth and school readiness. PHOTO: SISHK

(SISHK)

Singaporean mother-of-two Mrs Lim used to think Singapore's education system was competitive until she moved to Hong Kong in February 2025 and tried to enrol her then 18-month-old daughter in preschool.

It was then that she came face to face with one of Hong Kong's notorious cultural norms: nursery admissions interviews of prospective pupils.

"I didn't know such interviews would start so young," the homemaker in her 30s, who wanted to be known only by her husband's surname, told me.

"At the school, we frantically tried to get our kid to wave hi to everyone she met, but she was having none of it," she said, adding that during the interview, the girl could not complete an animal peg puzzle given to her, although she managed to correctly pick out and stack some coloured blocks.

That wasn't all.

Mrs Lim, who documented her thoughts about the nerve-racking experience in a series of viral video reels on her Instagram account, unaestheticmom42, said she and her husband appeared to be screened as well.

"On the application form, we even had to fill up our jobs and workplaces. How is that remotely relevant (to our child's admission)," she said. "As first-time parents and being in a new place, the whole experience was just so stressful."

Mrs Lim is among scores of parents and their young children who have had to navigate Hong Kong's ultra-competitive, often-stressful admissions processes for almost every child registering for preschool.