Speech by the Chief Executive in delivering “The Chief Executive’s 2018 Policy Address” to the Legislative Council
35. Education is another area which also warrants the devotion of resources. Since the 2017/18 school year, the Government has expended a recurrent expenditure of $3.6 billion to implement a series of measures in accordance with my belief and vision of education, thereby a stable and caring teaching and learning environment is gradually taking shape. Taking into account the recommendations and initial views from various professional-led task forces, I announce in my Policy Address a number of specific measures involving an additional recurrent expenditure of $4.7 billion to further enhance the quality of education and respond to the aspirations of teachers, principals and parents. Such measures include providing to schools a recurrent Life-wide Learning Grant, implementing in one go the all-graduate teaching force policy in public sector primary and secondary schools, earmarking funding to improve the manpower at the middle-management level in primary schools, strengthening the administrative support for schools, enhancing home-school co-operation, improving vocational education and training, increasing further the opportunities and subsidies for students to pursue post-secondary education, as well as enhancing support for students with special educational needs.
36. The commitment for the new initiatives has exceeded the $3.4 billion additional recurrent provision earmarked earlier. However, given the determination of the current-term Government to promote quality education, we would not haggle over the resources needed, nor would we trim our measures due to resource constraints. I believe that the new resources for education would not be expended for no purpose and I look forward to working hand in hand with the education sector in nurturing quality future generations for Hong Kong.
