Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is a day and boarding Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon. Having run as a grant-aided school since it was founded, the school commenced operation in the Direct Subsidy Scheme in September 2003. It uses English as the medium of instruction. As of 2026, the headmaster was Ronnie Cheng Kay-Yen.
History The first foundation In 1860, Lydia Smith (wife of the Bishop of Victoria) and the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the Far East (Also known as Female Education Society, or "FES") set up the Diocesan Native Female Training School. It was a day-school turned boarding school for native girls, and was affiliated with the Diocese of Victoria. As stated in its first annual report, the purpose of the school was "to introduce among a somewhat superior class of native females the blessings of Christianity and of religious training". The school sat on Bonham Road, a small concrete house on a paddy field. Lady Robinson (the Governor's wife) became the patron.
The school had a difficult existence. The Second Opium War aroused strong anti-British sentiment and so it was very unpopular for Chinese girls to learn English.E. J. Eitel's letter to the Colonial Secretary in 1889, CO 129/342, quoted in Vicky Lee, Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides (Hong Kong University Press, 2004), p.21 The school was closed and then reopened under the name "Diocesan Female School", but its finances did not improve. In 1868, Bishop Charles Alford took the school under his immediate superintendence.
The second foundation
19th century
On 30 January 1869, in a bid to gain popular support, Bishop Alford issued an appeal to admit boys into the school and to turn it into an orphanage. The appeal was well received by the public. In September, the Diocesan Home and Orphanage was established for boys and girls, foreign or Chinese.
In July 1870, William Arthur, formerly of the Garrison School, was appointed as the headmaster and his wife as the matron.
In 1878, the school was placed in the grant-in-aid scheme by the Education Department.
In March 1878, Arthur resigned. Bishop Burdon proposed to stop admitting boys into the school and to bring it under the FES. In July, he withdrew his proposal following pressure from William Beswick, honorary treasurer of the DHO, although the Bishop still thought it inappropriate to have boys and girls boarding in the same school campus.
On 1 November 1878, George Piercy, then master of the Government Central School, was appointed to be the new headmaster. Piercy focused on the students' academics, and the school attained satisfactory results in the Cambridge and Oxford Local Examinations scholarships.
On 31 May 1879, the school committee resolved to stop accepting girls as boarders.
In 1891, the school was renamed the Diocesan School and Orphanage. In 1892, the remaining girls were transferred to Fairlea Girls' School (a forerunner of Heep Yunn School). The Diocesan School and Orphanage was transformed into a boys' school.
Early 20th century
In 1902, the school was renamed as Diocesan Boys' School and Orphanage. It is unclear when the school was renamed Diocesan Boys' School, although the name was used as early as 1918.
Rev. William Featherstone, headmaster from 1918 to 1931, introduced the prefects' system, a house system and Speech Day. He also moved the school from Bonham Road to a hill site in Mong Kok. Construction was completed in 1926. In February 1927, the British military authorities took the school for use as a hospital for one year.
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in China in 1937, the school showed its support towards the Chinese Nationalist Party. In January 1938, a shoe-shining club was organised under the permission of Rev. Christopher Sargent to raise funds for the Nationalist government. Boys went to schools around Hong Kong and polished shoes for teachers and students.Steps, Diocesan Boys' School, 1938 In 1939, there was a school strike when a student with Japanese citizenship was appointed as head prefect.W. J. Smyly, A History of the Diocesan Boys' School (unpublished manuscript circa 1967)
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, most of the school staff, including then-headmaster Gerald Goodban, were imprisoned. The school building was transformed into a military hospital for soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Post-war years Imperial Japan surrendered in August 1945. The school remained under the control of the Kempeitai until November (i.e., when all the Japanese soldiers were captured).
On 21 March 1946, J. L. YoungSaye, a senior teacher, got the school to run again. Oswald Cheung and B. J. Monks took up the post of acting headmaster successively. Goodban returned from England on 19 November 1947. Repairs started during the Christmas holidays.
In 1949, Goodban introduced a new house system in which houses were named after former headmasters, along with the Piercy Challenge Shield.Steps, Diocesan Boys' School, 1949
In early 1950s, construction plans for a gymnasium, a Carnegie Hall (the old art room beside the demolished gymnasium) and a science wing were proposed.Steps, Diocesan Boys' School, 1954
In 1955, Canon George Zimmern, also known as George She, was appointed the next headmaster, the first Hong Kong-born old boy to be given the role. As headmaster, Canon She welcomed students from poor households and affirmed the Chinese language in school culture.George She Memorial Dedicated at DBS , DSOBA Canon She also introduced the Garden Fête in 1955.
It was decided that the primary classes should be dropped for lack of space and that a completely new primary school - Diocesan Preparatory School - would be built, although the decision was only implemented in 1969.Headmaster's Report, Steps, Diocesan Boys' School, 1970
James Lowcock became headmaster in 1961. Based on his previous experience in the school, he restructured the administration to improve efficiency and appointed more teachers to posts with designated duties. In 1983, Jacland Lai succeeded Mr. Lowcock as headmaster. A language laboratory and a demonstration room were built. The electrics and alarm installations were renovated, the school walls repainted, and the facilities were computerised throughout the school.
2000s
In 2002, Lai was succeeded by Terence Chang, an old boy and then-headmaster of Jockey Club Ti-I College.
On 4 October 2002, the school committee proposed to join the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) with effect from September 2003. The application was accepted by the Education and Manpower Bureau in March 2003.DBS School Committee Minutes 6 June 2003 The DSS was fiercely debated within the School throughout 2002. Chang was highly in favour of joining the DSS,Terence Chang, "Why Direct Subsidy Scheme?", South China Morning Post 16 March 2002 but some students and most teachers opposed the DSS because they were afraid it would shut out students from poorer families. Alumni on the whole were slightly inclined towards the DSS. The school claimed that the parents were in favour, though its findings have since been criticised as biased.
A primary school was built beside the secondary school campus. The project was financed by the government as part of the deal that saw the school join the DSS.DBS School Committee minutes 10 November 1998 The Diocesan Boys' School Primary Division (DBSPD) had its first, partial intake of students in 2004 and expanded its intake with students aged between 6 and 12 over the following years.
In April 2012, Diocesan Boys' School became the first secondary school in Hong Kong to have a school app on iOS and Android.
In September 2012, Chang retired and Ronnie Kay Yen Cheng – an alumnus who had been the conductor of the school choirs – succeeded him as headmaster.
In May 2020, the school became the world's No.1 International Baccalaureate school, with an average mark of 42.
In September 2025, the Junior Forms Curriculum Coordinator Rosene Ghafur succeeded Ng Kay Kong as Dean.
Campus
The school is located on Kadoorie Hill in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon City District.
21st century
In March 2009, the school received media attention when a Form 4 student complained that he had had a nude female model as a subject in his art class, and alleged embarrassment. The visual arts teacher, employed for 27 years, told reporters that he had been inviting nude models without any complaint for nearly ten years. Then-Headmaster Terence Chang said it was a "big fuss about nothing".校長指毋須大驚小怪 男拔聘裸女供素描 學生尷尬 , Sing Tao, 20 March 2009
National security education In December 2022, DBS said that it had already implemented national security education into its curriculum. The school stated that "The objective is to deepen students' understanding of the country's development and national security, enhance their sense of national identity and nurture them as good law-abiding citizens." Alumni
Politicians
Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) (1866-1925), Chinese revolutionary and statesman, "Father of Modern China" Sir Robert Kotewall (羅旭龢) (1880-1949), colonial businessman and politician羅旭龢 香港實業家 , Luoshi.net (羅氏通譜網), 10 September 2004 Yeung Kai-yin (楊啟彥) (1941-2007), chairman and chief executive of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), Secretary for Education and Manpower, Secretary for Transport and Secretary for the Treasury James Tien Pei Chun (田北俊), former chairman of the Liberal Party and member of the Legislative Council Michael Tien Puk Sun (田北辰), member of the Legislative Council and former chairman of the board of the KCRC Tommy Cheung, Leader of the Liberal Party and member of the Legislative Council Dominic Lee, member of the Legislative Council and former member of the Sham Shui Po District Council Kenneth Chen Wei-on, Secretary-General of the Legislative Council and former Undersecretary for Education Eddie Yue Wai-man (余偉文), Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Patrick Ho, former Secretary for Home Affairs, convicted of bribery offences in a U.S. federal court in 2018 Timothy Tong, former Commissioner of the ICAC and Commissioner of Customs and Excise Joshua Law Chi-kong, Former Secretary for the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary for Security, Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization
Law William Ngartse Thomas Tam (1900–1976), barrister, magistrate, member of the Legislative Council G. S. Zimmern (施玉麒) (1904–1979), barrister, magistrate, headmaster of DBSDiocesan Boys' School Seventy Years Ago , by W.J. Howard Kwan Cho-yiu (關祖堯) (1907–1971), judge, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils Kan Yuet-keung (簡悅強) (1913–2012), solicitor, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, banker Oswald Cheung (張奧偉) (1922–2003), barrister, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, acting headmaster of DBSHKU Honorary Graduates University of Hong Kong Henry Litton, former Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong Aarif Barma (鮑晏明), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal Pang Kin-kee (彭鍵基), former High Court judge and former chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC)Electoral Affairs Commission Membership Electoral Affairs Commission Azizul Rahman Suffiad (石輝), former High Court judge (1997-2014), former Commissioner on Interception of Communications and Surveillance (2015-2021), Government Press Release: "Government announces appointment of Commissioner under Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance" Chairman of the Islamic Union of Hong Kong Council Members, The Islamic Union of Hong Kong
Commerce Lam Kin Ming (林建名), chairman of Lai Sun Group Henry Fan (范鴻齡), Chairman of the Hospital Authority, former Unofficial Member of the Executive Council, former managing director of CITIC Pacific and former vice-chairman of Cathay Pacific