Around 66% of Hong Kong upper primary students experience stress from testing overload – survey

Close to 70 percent of upper primary students in Hong Kong say they experience stress brought on by excessive school assessments and testing, a new survey conducted by a local charity and a social work scholar has found. A total of 5,200 pupils in Primary Four to Six were interviewed in the survey, conducted by Caritas Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) researcher Moon Law between October and January last year. Caritas Hong Kong and the CUHK Social Work Department host a press conference on August 20, 2026 on the mental health of Hong Kong children. Photo: Caritas Hong Kong. Around 66 per cent of students reported feeling overwhelmed by excessive amounts of school assessments and tests. Close to 60 percent of respondents also said they feel “worried about an uncertain future.” Following the survey, 40 focus groups were also arranged to facilitate sharing among students, teachers, and parents. Students said during these sessions that when they face higher academic pressure, it becomes more difficult for them to handle uncertainties in their lives outside of school as well. They also said that they tried to lower expectations to avoid disappointment when experiencing stress. Hope for the next generation Moon Law of CUHK’s Social Work Department said at a press conference on Thursday that students tended to hide their anxieties and did not share their feelings with others, which poses risks for their mental health. “Changing the outlook for Hong Kong children’s well-being is not simply a matter of telling them to de-stress, nor does it revolve around ‘outsourced’ support such as piling on material goods or offering extra tutoring,” Law said in Cantonese. “Instead, it requires parents and all other parties to comprehensively adjust their expectations and to avoid offloading excessive aspirations onto the next generation.” Students wait on the platform of Hong Kong’s MTR in November 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Caritas Hong Kong also suggested providing children with more opportunities to make decisions on their own, thereby equipping them with a greater sense of hope. “When children believe they have the agency to shape their own futures and improve their satisfaction with life, their sense of hope is boosted, fostering the resilience needed to face adversity and challenges,” Caritas said in a Chinese-language news statement. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing. More by Irene Chan