The number of students enrolling in international schools in Shenzhen had risen significantly this year (2011).

Several schools, such as Shekou International School, Shenzhen American International School and Nanshan International School, had increased enrolments by about 30 percent, the schools said.

The International School of Sino-Canada (ISSC) had increased enrolments to about 300 this year, almost doubling last year’s figure.

Almost 700 had enrolled at Shekou International School, 30 percent more than last semester.

Most of the students were aged between 2 and 17 and from countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea.

The increases were mainly due to a sharp rise in the number of foreigners and their families settling in Shenzhen and the increasingly high quality of the city’s international schools.

Several new international schools had opened this year, including Buena Vista Concordia International School (BCIS) which opened Aug. 19, and the international department at Shenzhen Foreign Languages School is to open soon.

“We had high expectations about the future development of the school due to an increasing demand for international schools,” said Linda Coate, director of the admissions and public relations department of BCIS.

Meanwhile, more than 1.3 million students started the new semesters at public and private schools Thursday. Among these, 270,000 children of migrant workers had been accepted by public primary and middle schools, the city education bureau said.

According to government policy, all students with Shenzhen hukou and more than 500,000 qualified non-hukou students at primary and junior high schools did not need to pay tuition fees.

There were nine new public schools in the city, including five primary schools and four middle schools. They were mainly in Longgang and Bao’an districts and Guangming and Pingshan new zones.

The city planned to build 23 new schools in these areas in five years, providing about 38,000 school seats, the bureau said.

Taken from Shenzhen Daily by Wang Yuanyuan, Gu Yanwen

Currently, there are 6 international schools listed in Shenzhen on International School Community:
Shekou International School
QSI International School of Shekou
Green Oasis School
Shenzhen American International School
International School of Nanshan Shenzhen
Buena Vista Concordia International School