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Education and Manpower Bureau

I. Education

In the past year, we have been working on 86 pledges, of which :

� we have completed 35;

� we are on schedule on 43;

� two are under review;

� we are taking active measures to speed up the progress on one which is behindschedule; and

� we are pressing ahead with five on-going commitments.

The following sets out the detailed report for each main programme area.

Kindergarten Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Action Completed

1997 1. To advance the comprehensivereview of the KindergartenSubsidy Scheme (KSS) to the1997-1998 school year, i.e., oneyear ahead of the originalschedule, to take stock of howwell the Scheme has beenoperating since its introductionin September 1995. In the1998-1999 school year, tointroduce improvements to theKSS to provide incentives toencourage kindergartens toemploy more trained teachers.To deploy about $35 million toenhance the KSS.

Improvements to the KSS havebeen introduced starting from the1998-1999 school year. The basisfor calculating the rate of subsidyhas been changed from the numberof pupils to the number of classes.To encourage kindergartens toe m p l oy m o r e Q u a l i f i e dKindergarten Teachers (QKTs), anenhanced rate of subsidy is providedto those employing a higherpercentage of QKTs than thestipulated government requirement.The full-year cost for the enhancedscheme will rise from $106 million inthe 1998-1999 school year to$155 million in the 2001-2002school year.

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1996 2. To harmonise training forkindergarten teachers and childcare workers in 1996.

Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 3. To require :

� at least 50% of teachersin each kindergarten tobe QKTs by September1999;

� at least 60% QKTs ineach kindergarten bySeptember 2000; and

� by September 2004,al l newly recruitedkindergarten principals tohave completed theC e r t i f i c a t e i nKindergarten Education(CKE) Course.

1997 4. To provide additional trainingfor 660 existing kindergartenprincipals and teachers from1998 to 2002 to enablekindergartens to meet ourrequirements on teacherqualifications.

The basic training programme forkindergarten teachers and child careworkers has been harmonised.

Kindergartens were informed of therequirements in January 1998. Atotal of 1 950 QKT training placeswill be provided by the Hong KongInstitute of Education (HKIEd) inthe 1998-1999 and 1999-2000school years to ensure an adequatesupply of QKTs.

Kindergartens were informed of therequirements in April 1998. 173teachers have completed the CKECourse. Some 80 teachers willcomplete the course by September1999. HKIEd will provide another390 training places between the 1998-1999 and 2000-2001 school years.

HKIEd will start providing theadditional training places from the1998-1999 school year.

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1997 5. To ask the Educat ionCommission (EC) to beginbefore the end of 1997 athorough review of thestructure of pre-primary,primary, secondary and tertiaryeducation, addressing the ageat which students should begineach stage of education, thelength of the various stages ofeducation, the curriculum ofeach stage and the interfacebetween them.

Action in Progress : Under Review

1996 6. To require at least 40% ofteachers in each kindergartento complete the QKT Coursesby September 1997.

The EC has formed working groupsand sub-groups to examine issuesrelated respectively to pre-primaryand basic education, and post-Secondary 3 education.

Given the complexity of the issuesinvolved, the review will beconducted in phases. To start with,the EC and its working groups andsub-groups will focus on the overallaims of education, taking intoaccount the needs of the communityand future changes.

A series of focus group discussionsand consultative sessions withrelevant education-related executiveand advisory bodies will be held inthe coming months. The educationcommunity and the public will alsobe consulted in the course ofthe review.

Enough QKTs have been trained tomeet the 40% requirement but theyare unevenly distributed inkindergartens. HKIEd has agreedto give priority in the allocation oftraining places to teachers fromkindergartens that have not met therequirement. We shall look intoways to ensure that kindergartensmeet the target.

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Primary & Secondary Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Action Completed

1997 1. To establish a $5 billionQuality Education Fund(QEF) to promote quality andinnovation in school educationin Hong Kong.

1997 2. To set up an IT EducationResource Centre (ITERC) toprovide professional andtechnical support for teachersand schools.

1997 3. To declare �10 September�each year as �Teachers� Day�.

1996 4. To improve support servicesfor language teaching andlearning in schools by settingup a Language ResourceCentre in the 1997-1998 schoolyear and by us ing theelectronic media and schoolcomputers to develop linksbetween teachers and variousinstitutions to enhance theexchange of teaching ideasand materials.

The QEF was established in January1998. Of the 2 367 applicationsreceived in the first call, 510applications have been successful inobtaining grants totalling $333million. The second call forapplications will be invited in lateSeptember 1998.

The ITERC has commencedoperation in September 1998.

The Chief Executive (CE)announced in his 1997 PolicyAddress that 10 September eachyear would be designated as�Teachers� Day�. A series ofactivities, including a receptionfor teachers officiated by the CE,were organised to celebratethe f irst Teachers� Day on10 September 1998.

The Centre opened in August 1998to provide support for teachers.

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Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 5. To ask the EC to begin beforethe end of 1997 a thoroughreview of the structure of pre-primary, primary, secondaryand ter tiary education,addressing the age at whichstudents should begin eachstage of education, the lengthof the various stages ofeducation, the curriculum ofeach stage and the interfacebetween them.

The EC has formed working groupsand sub-groups to examine issuesrelated respectively to pre-primaryand basic education, and post-Secondary 3 education.

Given the complexity of the issuesinvolved, the review will beconducted in phases. To start with,the EC and its working groups andsub-groups will focus on the overallaims of education, taking intoaccount the needs of the communityand future changes.

A series of focus group discussionsand consultative sessions withrelevant education-related executiveand advisory bodies will be held inthe coming months. The educationcommunity and the public will alsobe consulted in the course ofthe review.

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1997 6. To improve the quality ofeducation by implementing in1998 the recommendations ofEducation Commission ReportNo. 7 (ECR 7).

1997 7. To set up an award scheme foroutstanding performance byschools and teachers underthe QEF.

The spirit of ECR7 is to promoteschool-based management andquality assurance. To this end :

� steps are being taken toencourage all schools toimplement school-basedmanagement by year 2000.Seminars, training courses,experience-sharing sessionsand reference materials onschool-based management havebeen organised and developedfor all schools. Consultativesessions have been held forschool managers, principals andteachers to solicit their views onimplementation. Schools will berequired to submit theirimplementation plans to theEducation Department (ED) byFebruary 1999, with a view toimplementing the key elementsof school-based managementby year 2000;

� whole-school inspections havebeen conducted in 26 schools,including primary, secondaryand special schools. Moreschools will be inspected in thecoming school year.

A consultation document containingproposals on the award schemes wasissued in July 1998 to seekcomments from the educationsector and teaching profession. Theconsultation will be completed inSeptember 1998 and the schemeswill be formally introduced in1998-1999.

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1997 8. To for mula te in 1998a f ive-year strategy onIT education.

1997 9. To enhance the provision ofIT facilities in public sectorschools. On average, eachprimary school is to have40 and each secondary schoolto have 82 multi-mediacomputers.

1997 10. To enhance training to over30 000 teachers in IT use.

1997 11. To procure and develop newsoftware to support teaching.

A proposed five-year strategy was putout for a two-month consultation,which ended in August 1998. We willfinalise the strategy and formulate animplementation plan, in the light ofcomments received, before the end of1998.

Primary schools are being providedwith 15 computers each inaccordance with their readiness.Delivery is expected to becompleted by early 1999. 12 500computers had been delivered tosecondary schools by August 1998to upgrade the facilities in theircomputer rooms.

The procurement arrangements forthe remaining 43 800 computers arebeing finalised with a view to givingschools more flexibility. In parallel,site preparation works are beingcarried out at schools. We plan todeliver the remaining computers toschools by mid-2000.

A tender for basic IT training forprimary school teachers has beenawarded. Training courses will beconducted in the 1998-1999 and1999-2000 school years for 30 000teachers. We are exploring ways toallow schools to have moreflexibility in acquiring IT training fortheir teachers.

Schools have been provided witha recurrent grant to purchaseeducational software from the1998-1999 school year onwards. TheITERC will develop plans toacquire, develop and promote theuse of educational software. It willset up a software library inNovember 1998.

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1997 12. To select ten primary and tensecondary schools to take partin an IT Pilot Scheme.

1997 13. To connect all schools to theInternet.

1997 14. To plan for an education-specific Intranet to facilitateexchange of ideas and sharingof information within theschool sector.

1997 15. To have teaching in at least25% of the curriculumsupported through IT withinfive years.

1997 16. T o p r o m o t e t h eprofessionalism of teachers bysetting language benchmarksfor all teachers in 1998-1999;require all new teachers tomeet the benchmarks beforethey join the profession in2000, and provide training forin-service language teachers sothat by 2005, all teachers willbe able to reach the benchmarks.

1997 17. To set up a General TeachingCouncil by 1999. Preparatorywork has started and thenecessary legislation will beintroduced in 1998.

Ten primary and ten secondaryschools have been given theresources and f lexibil ity toimplement their own IT plans inthe 1998-1999 and 1999-2000school years.

Secondary schools have all beenprovided with access to the Internet.Primary schools will be providedwith Internet access whencomputers are delivered to them.

Preparations are underway forcommissioning a consultancy on thedevelopment of an education-specific Intranet.

The Curriculum DevelopmentCouncil (CDC) will set out a workplanfor the review of syllabuses. Inparallel, the ED has set up workinggroups to develop IT learning targetsfor students and to facilitate thedevelopment of IT-based teachingand learning resources.

Tentative benchmarks have beendeveloped for English teachers inlower secondary forms, Putonghuateachers and teachers using Chinese asthe medium of instruction in primaryschools. A pilot exercise to finalisethese benchmarks is making goodprogress. Benchmarks will bedeveloped for teachers at other levels.

Public consultation will be conductedaround the fourth quarter of 1998.After public consultation, the relevantlegislation will be introduced into theLegislative Council with a view tosetting up the Council by 1999.

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1997 18. To ask the University GrantsCommittee (UGC) to study themeans needed to achieve thetarget that all new teachersbe degree-holders andprofessionally trained.

1997 19. To call on internationalexpertise and best practices toreview and streamline theexisting structure of executiveand advisory bodies on theeducation front.

The UGC and the AdvisoryCommittee on Teacher Educationand Qualifications have submittedtheir respective reports on theReview of Teacher Education. TheGovernment has decided to startupgrading the sub-degree teachertraining places at the HKIEd todegree or above level in 1999-2000.

The Government issued on 6 May1998 the Consultation Document onthe Review of Education-relatedExecutive and Advisory Bodies for athree-week consultation periodwhich ended on 27 May 1998.In the light of public feedbackreceived during consultation,the Government announced on15 July 1998 the final views on howthe operation of the present systemof education-related executive andadvisory bodies can be improved.

The Government appointed aconsulting firm to conduct a reviewof the ED in December 1997. Thishas been completed . Theconsultants� recommendations, andthe Administration�s initial responsewere issued on 20 July 1998 for athree-month public consultationperiod. On the basis of the viewsreceived, the Government will take afinal view and set up a dedicatedteam within the ED to formulate theimplementation details. TheEducation and Manpower Bureau(EMB) wi l l a lso set up anappropriate institutional frameworkwithin the Bureau to monitorprogress.

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1997 20. To review the policy on privateschools in 1998 to encouragethe development of a strongprivate school sector andto rationalise governmentassistance to private schools.

1997 21. To review the curricula forvarious subjects to enhancelearning about China, and toensure schools give properattention to science andmathematical knowledge.

1997 22. To review the examinationsystem with a view to takingaccount o f s tudent s �performance at schools.

We have conducted a review andconsulted the major educationadvisory bodies on our proposals.We aim to take a final view on theway forward before the end of 1998.

The ED and the CDC have beenworking on the following :

� reviewing the elements in thecurricula of various subjects oflearning about China with aview to strengthening theseelements. The review will becompleted in the 1998-1999school year;

� reviewing the current practicesof arts and science streaming atSecondary 4 to 5 with a view toachieving a more balanced mixof subjects at these levels. Thereview will be completed in the1998-1999 school year; and

� conducting a holistic review ofthe mathematics curriculumwith a view to enhancingcontinuity and coherence of thecurriculum at various levels. Thereview will be completed by the1999-2000 school year.

A consultancy study has beencommissioned to review theexamination system. The HongKong Examinations Authority hasset up a Project Advisory Group,chaired by the Chairman of theAuthority, to monitor progress. Theconsultants will submit a report onschool-based assessment to theAuthority by the end of 1998.

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1997 23. To provide Induct ionProgrammes, English languageprogramme, short-termpreparatory courses and school-based support services to helpnewly arrived children integrateinto the local school system.

1996 24. To extend the SchoolImprovement Programme tocover all public sector schoolsin which improvement worksare feasible by 2004.

1996 25. To consider the Board ofEducation�s recommendationsfollowing a review of the nine-year compulsory educationsystem and decide what changes,if any, should be made.

1996 26. To improve teacher educationby constructing a new campusin Tai Po for the HKIEd to becommissioned in September 1997at a cost of $2.3 billion.

In the 1997-1998 school year, a totalof 786 classes of InductionProgramme and 539 classes ofEnglish Extension Programme wereorganised for 10 770 and 6 985newly arrived children respectively.520 schools provided school-basedsupport services to 12 301 newlyarrived children. Two secondaryand five primary schools alsoconducted short-term preparatorycourses for some 300 newlyarrived children.

Construction work for phase 3schools is in progress. Feasibilitystudies for phase 4 schools willcommence in October 1998. Theprogramme has been extendedto cover 40% of all public sectorschools as at the end of the1997-1998 school year.

The Administration has consideredthe 77 sets of recommendationsarising from the review report, andhas decided to implement the 12 setsof recommendations which couldbe pursued independent ofother policy reviews currently inprogress. Another 59 sets ofrecommendations will be pursued inaccordance with existing policiesand programmes. The remaining sixsets of recommendations will befurther studied in the contextof other policy reviews ordevelopments.

The HKIEd became operationalat its new Tai Po campus in the1997-1998 academic year. TheInstitute is pressing ahead with theoutstanding construction works.

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1995 27. To enhance in-service teachertraining for primary andsecondary teachers to ensurean adequate supply of trainedteachers for the newPutonghua curriculum tobe implemented from the1998-1999 school year.

About 900 Putonghua teachers havereceived in-service training in the1997-1998 school year. A further1 900 teachers will be trained in the1998-1999 and 1999-2000 schoolyears. There will be adequate supplyof trained Putonghua teachers in the1998-1999 school year.

Good progress has been made with the following commitments in the past year. Wewill continue to work on them on an on-going basis.

Year Pledge

1997 28. To provide resources for and promote educational exchange programmesto involve the community in the process of getting to know more aboutChinese history and culture.

1996 29. To improve the quality of aided schools by inviting them to join thePerformance Pledge Programme.

1996 30. To step up training for school principals to enhance their leadership andadministrative skills.

1996 31. To adopt a comprehensive approach in curriculum development toensure continuity across different levels of school education and toencourage an integrated approach to overcome rigid subject boundariesand segmentation of learning.

Primary Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Action Completed

1997 1. To provide in 1998 a travelsubsidy for needy primarystudents who have to travel farto go to school.

The new Travel Subsidy Schemebegan to accept applications inSeptember 1998. Eligible pupils willbegin to receive subsidy paymentsstarting from December 1998.About 19 000 pupils are expectedto benefit.

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1997 2. To provide 421 additionalclerical staff for 411 primaryschools in 1998.

1995 3. To develop a new Putonghuacurriculum for Primary 1 to 6and introduce the newPutonghua curriculum forPrimary 1 in the 1998-1999school year.

1995 4. To provide a recurrent grantfor primary schools whichoffer Putonghua from the1998-1999 school year.

Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 5. To raise the percentage ofgovernment and aided primaryschool students in whole-dayschools from the present 21%to 60% in the 2002-2003school year.

1997 6. To advance the timetable forhaving 35% of primaryteaching posts as graduateposts from the target year of2007 to 2001 by providingabout 1 380 graduate teacherposts a year from the 1998-1999to 2001-2002 school year.

421 additional clerical posts wereprovided to 411 primary schoolsfrom the 1998-1999 school year.

A new Putonghua curriculum forPrimary 1 to 6 has been developed.The new Putonghua curriculum forPrimary 1 was implemented fromthe 1998-1999 school year.

A recurrent grant of $1,250 perschool per annum is being providedfrom the 1998-1999 school yearfor primary schools offeringPutonghua.

Five out of the 73 new primaryschools required have commenced/will commence operation in the1998-1999 school year. Throughadministrative measures, 23 uni/bi-sessional schools have commencedoperation as 15 whole-day schools inSeptember 1998. The percentage ofgovernment and aided primaryschool places in whole-day schoolswill rise to 25% in the 1998-1999school year.

A total of 1 380 graduate posts willbe provided in the 1998-1999 schoolyear and the annual provision will beincreased to 1 640 in the 1999-2000to 2001-2002 school years. Togetherwith the existing 1 015 graduateposts, around 12% of the teachingposts in primary schools will begraduate posts by the end of the1998-1999 school year.

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1997 7. To study in 1998 the feasibilityof replacing the AcademicAptitude Test for allocation ofSecondary 1 places with aproposed Academic AbilityAssessment (AAA), whichaims at testing pupils� higherorder thinking skills with testitems based on the syllabusesof all subjects in the primarycurriculum.

1997 8. To extend the service ofthe Central CurriculumDevelopment Support Teamto help primary schools with alarge number of academicallylow achievers in 1998.

1997 9. To start to provide in 1998 oneadditional Certificated Master/Mistress post for each whole-day primary school and eachbi-sessional primary schoolwith 12 classes or more byphases in the next four years toco-ordinate library service andto support the Chinese andEnglish Extensive ReadingSchemes.

1997 10. To build an additional 13primary schools before the2001-2002 school year.

1996 11. To promote the TargetOriented Curriculum (TOC)so that all primary classes willimplement TOC for the coresubjects of Chinese, Englishand Mathematics by the2000-2001 school year.

Prototypes on the proposed AAAdesigned by a research team from alocal tertiary institution have beentested in sample schools in April andJune 1998. The results of the testsare being analysed.

A pilot scheme on curriculumtailoring is being carried out in tenprimary schools in the 1998-1999school year.

In the 1998-1999 school year, 180Certificated Master/Mistress postswere provided for government andaided primary schools to co-ordinatelibrary service and to support theChinese and English ExtensiveReading Schemes.

Five primary schools werecompleted for operation from the1997-1998 school year, and anothertwo from the 1998-1999 school year.The remaining six schools are beingplanned; construction work forthree of them will commence soon.

753 primary schools (or 88.5% of allprimary schools) are implementingTOC in Primary 1 to 4, Primary 1 to3, Primary 1 to 2 or Primary 1 in the1998-1999 school year.

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Action in Progress : Under Review

1992 12. To reduce the size of schoolclasses to 35 pupils each,starting in September 1993with Primary 1, and extendingit to a higher level a year ata time.

To meet the target of providing 60%of primary school places in whole-day schools by September 2002, thepolicy of reducing the class size hasbeen adjusted slightly on atemporary basis. At primary level,the class size is 32 for an activity-approach class and 37 for aconventional class starting from the1998 Primary 1 intake. Reductionof class size at secondary level willbe withheld.

Secondary Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Additional English teachers for allpublic sector secondary schoolsadopting Chinese as the medium ofinstruction and a recurrent EnglishLanguage Class Grant of $600 foreach Secondary 1 to 3 class and $900for each Secondary 4 and 5 class isbeing provided from the 1998-1999school year.

The graduate to non-graduateteachers ratio for prevocationalschools has been raised from 1:1 to6:4 in September 1998.

The extended scheme began toaccept applications in September1998. Eligible students will begin toreceive payments from December1998. About 94 000 students areexpected to benefit.

Action Completed

1997 1. To provide one to twoadditional English teachers anda recurrent English LanguageClass Grant for every publicsector secondary schooladopting Chinese as themedium of instruction in the1998-1999 school year.

1997 2. To start to raise the graduate/non-graduate teacher ratioin prevocational schoolsto that of public sector grammarsecondary schools by phasesfrom the 1998-1999 school year.

1997 3. To extend the TextbookAssistance Scheme to needystudents in Secondary 4 to 7in 1998.

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1997 4. To provide one additionalclerical staff each for 410secondary schools in 1998.

1996 5. To develop in the 1996-1997school year a civic educationsyllabus for Secondary 1 to 3.

1995 6. To provide a recurrent grantfor secondary schools whichoffer Putonghua from the1998-1999 school year.

1995 7. To develop a new Putonghuacurriculum for Secondary 1 to5 and introduce the newPutonghua curriculum forSecondary 1 and Secondary 4in the 1998-1999 school year.

1995 8. To include Putonghua inthe Hong Kong Certificate ofEducation Examination(HKCEE) as an independentsubject in the year 2000.

1993 9. To provide an additionalgraduate teacher for everysecondary school with a highproportion of Band Fivestudents.

One additional clerical post has beenprovided to each of the 410 secondaryschools from the 1998-1999 schoolyear.

A new civic education syllabus forSecondary 1 to 3 has beenimplemented from the 1998-1999school year.

A recurrent grant of $1,625 perschool per annum is provided fromthe 1998-1999 school yearto secondary schools offeringPutonghua during school hours.

A new Putonghua curriculum hasbeen developed for Secondary 1 to 5and introduced for Secondary 1 and4 from the 1998-1999 school year.

Putonghua will be introduced as asubject in the HKCEE in 2000.

Since 1994, every secondary schoolparticipating in the School-basedCurriculum Tailoring Scheme hasbeen provided with an additionalgraduate teacher post. In the1998-1999 school year, each of the92 schools participating in theScheme is provided with anadditional graduate teacher post.

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Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 10. To start updating the technicalcurricula and upgrading theteach ing fac i l i t i e s inprevocational and secondarytechnical schools in 1998.

1997 11. To build an additional 19secondary schools before the2001-2002 school year.

1996 12. To phase out floating classesin Secondary 1 to 5 by theyear 2000.

1994 13. To build three more PracticalSchools and seven more SkillsOpportunity Schools over thenext five years (1995 to 1999)to mee t the needs o funmotivated students andthose with severe learningproblems.

The CDC is developing a newtechnical curriculum in 16 newbusiness and technological subjectsfor prevocational and secondarytechnical schools, the work on whichwill be completed by April 2000.Conversion work for special roomsand workshops in these schools isbeing planned or carried out forcompletion by December 2000.

Construction work for nine of thenew secondary schools scheduledfor completion in 1999 has started,and that for another nine willcommence soon. Planning for theremaining one has begun.

We have provided 128 additionalclassrooms in 34 secondary schoolsand completed three new secondaryschools for this purpose. The classstructure in 29 secondary schoolswill also be reorganised in phasesfrom the 1998-1999 school year.

One Practical School and three SkillsOpportunity Schools werecompleted in 1998. This hasbrought the total number of newPractical Schools and SkillsOpportunity Schools built after1995 to three and six respectively.

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Special Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Action Completed

1997 1. To improve further theprovision of boarding staff inpractical schools by upgradingthe posts of warden andassistant warden in 1998 toprovide better pastoral careand counselling services tostudents.

1997 2. To enhance the provision ratioof school social workers from1 to 150 students to 1 to 100students in 1998 to strengthencounselling and guidanceservices to students ofpractical schools.

Administrative arrangements forupgrading these posts to improvethe pastoral care and counsellingservices to students were completedin September 1998.

Four additional Social Work Officerposts have been created toimplement the new manning ratio inSeptember 1998.

Good progress has been made with the following commitment in the past year. Wewill continue to work on it on an on-going basis.

Year Pledge

1994 15. To broaden the core curriculum at secondary and sixth form levels inorder to allow students more choices of academic, practical and technicalsubjects.

Action in Progress : Behind Schedule

1997 14. To provide one native-Englishspeaking teacher (NET) foreach public sector secondaryschool, and up to two NETsfor schools using Chinese asthe medium of instructionfrom 1998-1999 school year.A total of about 700 NETs willbe required.

As at early September 1998, 323NET posts had been filled. 303public sector secondary schools(or 74 % of all these schools) willhave the support of NETs from1998-1999 school year. Furtherrecruitment is underway.

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1997 3. To complete an evaluation ofthe pi lot school-basedprogramme for gifted studentsin primary schools in the1997-1998 school year.

1997 4. The Fung Hon Chu GiftedEducation Centre to expand itsservices to include centre-based enrichment programmesfor both pr imar y andsecondary school students in1998. It will also expandtraining programmes forteachers to equip them to helpgifted students fully developtheir potential.

1994 5. To develop new programmesto cater for students of varyingability.

Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 6. To start in 1998 to upgradeProgramme Worker andHouseparent posts in specialschools by phases to enhancepastoral care and educationto students with specialeducational needs.

1997 7. To formulate a long-termstrategy on helping studentswith special education needsintegrate into ordinary schools,based on the results of a two-year p i lo t pro jec t onintegration which commencedin the 1997-1998 school year.

1997 8. To provide more janitor stafffor schools for physicallyhandicapped children andschools for severely mentallyhandicapped children.

An evaluation report for the pilotprogramme was completed inSeptember 1998.

A tota l of 80 enr ichmentprogrammes for gifted students and12 training programmes for headsof schools and teachers of giftedchildren have been providedin 1998.

20 new programmes will be tried outin Fung Hon Chu Gifted EducationCentre.

60 posts have been made available toschools to upgrade qualified staff inthe 1998-1999 school year. A totalof 154 posts can be upgraded by2001-2002.

The pilot project is being conducted.The results of the project, whenavailable, will form the basis for thelong-term strategy.

A series of publicity activities arebeing undertaken to promote publicacceptance of integrated education.

82 additional janitor posts have beencreated from 1 September 1998. 17special schools will benefit from theimproved manning ratio.

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Tertiary Education

Year Pledge Present Position

Action Completed

1997 1. In 1998, to double the numberof non-local students atundergraduate and taughtpostgraduate levels from thepresent 2% to 4% and increasesubstantially the ratio of non-local research postgraduatesfrom the present 20% to one-third. Tertiary institutions torecruit outstanding studentsfrom the Mainland to enrol infirst-degree courses.

1997 2. To provide $423 millionfor research funding in the1997-1998 academic year.

1997 3. To enhance the Chinese andEnglish language skills ofstudents at UGC-fundedinstitutions by setting aside$87.5 million for LanguageEnhancement Grants in the1997-1998 academic year tohelp institutions develop andmount language enhancementcourses in Chinese, Englishand Putonghua to establish/expand self-access learningcentres for students, etc.

1997 4. To consider setting up a Centreof Language Teaching withinthe HKIEd as a centre ofexcellence in the training andretraining of our languageteachers.

The new policy of increasing theratio of non-local undergraduatesand taught postgraduates has beenimplemented by the UGC-fundedinstitutions for the 1998-1999 academicyear. The UGC-funded institutionswill start to admit, as a pilot scheme,some 150 outstanding Mainlandstudents to first-degree courses in1999-2000.

An amount of $423 million inresearch funding was distributed bythe Research Grants Council to theUGC-funded institutions in 1997-1998.

The UGC allocated $87.5 million tothe UGC-funded institutions asLanguage Enhancement Grants inthe 1997-1998 academic year.

The HKIEd established a Schoolof Languages in Education inSeptember 1998.

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1997 5. To ask the tertiary institutionsto seriously consider settingexit language examinations forthe students.

1997 6. To introduce improvements tothe existing Local StudentFinance Scheme (LSFS) in1998-1999 to enhance itsfairness, efficiency andtransparency.

1997 7. To introduce a non-meanstested loan scheme (NLS) on ano-gain-no-loss and cost-recovery basis to enhance thefinancial assistance for tertiarystudents.

1997 8. To shorten the processing timefor the LSFS applications byone month through moreextensive computerisation.

All of the UGC-funded institutionshave put in place some form oflanguage assessment, such as exitlanguage tests, to ensure that thelanguage proficiency of studentsreaches a certain level beforegraduation.

A new, improved formula forassessing applications has beenapproved by the Finance Committeeof the Legislative Council. Startingfrom April 1998, applications areassessed on the basis of adjustedfamily income, rather than annualdisposable income of the applicants�families. It is envisaged that anadditional 19 000 students willbenefit from the improved scheme.

A NLS has been introduced for the1998-1999 academic year to replacethe Extended Loan Scheme. Theambit of the new NLS covers notonly full-time students of theUGC-funded institutions but alsostudents of the Open University ofHong Kong (OUHK), the HongKong Shue Yan College andpart-time students pursuingpublicly-funded programmesoffered by the UGC-fundedinstitutions, Vocational TrainingCouncil-funded Technical Colleges,the Hong Kong Academy forPerforming Arts and the PrincePhilip Dental Hospital.

The computer system has beenenhanced and the user acceptancetest for the system was completed inJuly 1998. The processing time forapplications has been shortened byone month.

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1997 9. To extend the student travelsubsidy assistance to full-timeundergraduate students agedover 25.

1997 10. To make a capital grant of $50million to the OUHK for itsdevelopment into a centre ofexcellence in adult and distancelearning. Course materials willbe produced in both Englishand Chinese, to serve not justHong Kong�s long-termresidents and new arrivals, butalso students in the Mainland.

1994 11. To provide an additional $122million in grants and an extra$203 million in loans toHong Kong students of tertiaryinstitutions over the next fouryears (1995 to 1998).

Action in Progress : On Schedule

1997 12. To ask the EC to begin beforethe end of 1997 a thoroughreview of the structure of pre-primary, primary, secondaryand ter tiary education,addressing the age at whichstudents should begin eachstage of education, the lengthof the various stages ofeducation, the curriculum ofeach stage and the interfacebetween them.

The subsidy assistance was extendedto full-time undergraduate studentsaged over 25 in April 1998.

Finance Committee�s approval of acapital grant to the OUHK wasobtained in late 1997 and the grantwas disbursed to OUHK in early1998. The OUHK has prepared aset of deliverables for developing acentre of excellence in distance andadult learning.

These additional grants and loanswere disbursed to students in1996-1997 and 1997-1998 throughthe Extended Loan Scheme, whichhas been replaced by the NLS in1998-1999.

The EC has formed working groupsand sub-groups to examine issuesrelated respectively to pre-primaryand basic education, and post-Secondary 3 education.

Given the complexity of the issuesinvolved, the review will beconducted in phases. To start with,EC and its working groups and sub-groups will focus on the overall aimsof education, taking into accountthe needs of the community andfuture changes.

A series of focus group discussionsand consultative sessions with relevanteducation-related executive andadvisory bodies will be held in thecoming months. The educationcommunity and the public will also beconsulted in the course of the review.

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1997 13. To provide in the next fiveyears 11 000 additional studenthostel places. Preparation for9 360 places (at a cost of$1.6 billion) will start in 1998.

1997 14. To invest heavily in emergingcentres of excellence whichwill enable our institutionsto achieve and maintainrecognition as world-classresearchers in the internationalacademic community, keeppace with rising internationalstandards and serve the futureeconomic and social needs ofHong Kong.

1997 15. To ask the Universities toreview their admission criteriafor undergraduates to giverecognition to excellence innon-academic areas, such ascommunity service, sports andthe arts.

1996 16. To undertake managementreviews of UGC-fundedinstitutions in 1997 to ensurethat they have in placeappropriate internal resourceallocation, planning andfinancial processes.

The UGC-funded institutions havedrawn up plans to provide about11 000 additional student hostelplaces in the coming five years. Ofthese, preparation for some 9 400places started in 1998.

The UGC allocated $50 million tothe UGC-funded institutions in1997-1998 as start-up money to helpthem identify potential centres ofexcellence. 99 initial proposals havebeen received and are beingconsidered by the UGC. Theinstitutions will be invited to submitformal proposals towards the endof 1998.

For the 1998-1999 academic year,the UGC-funded institutions haveinvited all secondary schoolprincipals to nominate students whoexcel in non-academic areas foradmission to the institutions. Eachschool is to nominate up to threestudents as a pilot exercise. Some180 students have been admittedso far.

Management reviews for four of theUGC-funded institutions wereconducted in August 1998 and thereviews for the remaining fourinstitutions will be conducted inApril 1999.