Scientia Secondary School

In 1946 the missionary bishop Ronald Hall proposed to various trade unions that they should band together to form a society for the education of workers' children. The "Education Advancement Society for the Children of Workers in Hongkong and Kowloon" was thus formed.{{cite news|title=Workers' Schools|work=South China Morning Post|date=1 May 1951|page=6}} The society opened seven schools in 1947, at Mong Kok, Wan Chai, Apliu Street (Sham Shui Po), Hing Man Street (Shau Kei Wan), Sai Wan Ho, Jaffe Road, and Portland Street.{{cite news|title=Child Education: Over 1,500 Pupils In Workers' Schools|work=South China Morning Post|date=4 December 1948|pages=5}} The Mongkok school was housed in government premises and had 556 students in April 1947. More schools opened in 1948. These schools were often not in permanent premises but in rented flats. The government was still working to rehabilitate schools ruined during the Japanese occupation of World War II.

A few years after opening, the original Mongkok school was closed by the government, which felt that the workers' children schools were operating in unsuitable premises. The government planned to build new government schools in both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and withdraw the subsidy given to the education advancement society.{{cite news|title=Petition to Governor: Urges Re-opening Of Schools For Workers' Children|work=South China Morning Post|date=22 June 1949|page=3}} However, the Mong Kok school continued operating. A new school campus was built at Nairn Road (now called Princess Margaret Road) in Ho Man Tin. It was formally opened with a commemorative ceremony on 29 April 1951. The school was founded as a kindergarten, and the primary section was added soon after. The lower secondary section was founded in 1961.

Mongkok Workers' Children School was regarded as a leftist institution. It was the site of discord during the 1967 riots, inspired by the contemporaneous fervour of the Cultural Revolution in China. In May 1967, at the outset of the disturbances, it was reported in the South China Morning Post that men dressed as Red Guards, claiming to have come from Canton, were seen shouting communist slogans outside the school.{{cite news|title=Youths defy curfew: Violence Continues As Demonstrators And Police Clash|work=South China Morning Post|date=13 May 1967|page=1}} In October 1967 one of the teachers, Li Mou-lan, was tried and subsequently convicted of possessing inflammatory posters and recommended for deportation back to China, his birthplace.{{cite news|title=Teacher Accused|work=South China Morning Post|date=12 October 1967|page=8}}{{cite news|title=Magistrate To Recommend Deportation Of Teacher|work=South China Morning Post|date=10 November 1967|page=10}} The same month a student of the school was accused of possessing a bomb.{{cite news|title=Schoolboy accused|work=South China Morning Post|date=13 October 1967|page=8}}

Following a bomb explosion at the Chung Wah Middle School, which was subsequently shut down by the government, the Mongkok Workers' Children School was among four other "communist-run" schools raided by police on 28 November 1967. It was believed that the schools were being used for bomb-making. When the police arrived, students began shouting slogans and throwing objects and furniture at the officers.{{cite news|title=RAIDS ON FOUR RED SCHOOLS: Clamp Down On Bomb Manufacturing|work=South China Morning Post|date=29 November 1967|page=1}} The headmistress, Lam Suk-ching, was accused by the police of directing others to attack the officers.{{cite news|title=Group Threw Desks And Chairs At Police|work=South China Morning Post|date=13 December 1967|page=8}} The police heard "minor explosions" and saw smoke during the raid, and used tear gas shells to quell the disturbance. During the raid 16 people, including the headmistress, were arrested and later charged with obstructing the police and making inflammatory speeches.{{cite news|title=Instant closure of schools if bombs being made|work=South China Morning Post|date=30 November 1967|page=1}}

File:HK 勞工子弟中學 Workers' Children Secondary School.jpg

The upper secondary section was founded in 1975. In the 1980s the Mongkok Workers' Children School moved toward becoming a more mainstream institution. It participated in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) for the first time in 1980.{{cite web|last1=Chai|first1=Chung-sum|title=2015-2016學年開學禮講話|trans-title=2015-16 school year opening speech|language=Chinese|url=http://www.wss.edu.hk/file.aspx?clid=165&atid=748&lan=1|publisher=Workers' Children Secondary School|date=1 September 2015}} It was among several leftist schools that lobbied for government subsidy from the mid-1980s.{{cite news|last1=Lau|first1=C.K.|title='Patriotic' schools bid to become subsidised|work=South China Morning Post|date=22 November 1986|page=3}}{{cite news|title=Pro-China schools seek full subsidies|work=South China Morning Post|date=8 April 1987|page=3}} The Hong Kong Government launched the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) in 1991 to provide grants to private schools. The Mongkok Workers' Children School, previously classified as a Private Independent School (PIS), was one of nine schools that joined the DSS at the outset.{{cite journal|last1=Yung|first1=Man-sing, Andrew|title=The policy of direct subsidy scheme schools in Hong Kong: finance and administration|journal=Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal|date=2006|volume=5|pages=94–111|url=http://edb.org.hk/HKTC/download/journal/j5/P094_111.pdf}}

The school was the 1996 champion of the Hong Kong Mathematics Olympiad.

The school is a co-ed institution founded in 1946. It is a Direct Subsidy Scheme school sponsored by the Hong Kong Workers' Educational Organisation Ltd.{{cite web|title=School Information|url=http://www.chsc.hk/ssp2016/sch_detail1.php?lang_id=1&sch_id=179|website=Secondary School Profiles 2016-17|publisher=Committee on Home-School Co-operation|accessdate=23 March 2017}} There are about 700 students, taught by 48 teachers.

The school campus on Princess Margaret Road comprises about {{convert|5190|sqm|sqft}} of floor space. It comprises classrooms, two computer labs, an auditorium, a library, four laboratories, and two outdoor basketball courts. It is air conditioned.{{cite web|title=School Facilities|url=http://www.chsc.hk/ssp2016/sch_detail3.php?lang_id=1&sch_id=179|website=Secondary School Profiles 2016-17|publisher=Committee on Home-School Co-operation|accessdate=23 March 2017}}

• Lo Suk-ching, former LegCo member

• List of secondary schools in Hong Kong

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• {{official website|http://www.wss.edu.hk/}}

Category:1946 establishments in Hong Kong

Category:Communist schools in Hong Kong

Category:Secondary schools in Ho Man Tin