Enlightened People with a Rich Culture Preamble The Government will enrich Hong Kong's quality of life through a variety of policies and programmes, among which education ranks the highest. As Asia's world city, we will create an environment which fosters innovative thinking, mutual respect and team spirit, and we hope citizens can cultivate their artistic interests and personal tastes for their spiritual enhancement and cultural enrichment. We expect our society to be one which encourages self-initiative, entrepreneurship and aspirations, while valuing creativity and diversity. New Initiatives We will:   Facilitate the development of creative industries and enhance our efforts in assisting local community economy. Initiate new partnerships with the sports sector and the community pursuant to the Sports Policy Review. Formulate a comprehensive development package for the integrated arts, cultural and entertainment district in West Kowloon. Improve language education and the language proficiency of our people, i.e. biliterate in written Chinese and English and trilingual in Cantonese, Putonghua and spoken English through a package of measures recommended by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research. Develop a cultural and arts, sports and youth network in the Pearl River Delta. Develop a comprehensive approach to heritage preservation. Rationalise and simplify the teaching grade structure of public sector schools.   Ongoing Initiatives We are:   Continuing with our comprehensive programme of education reforms which cover the admission system to help promote students' balanced, all-round development; the curricula and teaching methods; and the assessment mechanism to help enhance learning and teaching effectiveness. Planning with schools still operating in bi-sessional mode to work towards enabling all primary school students to study in whole day schools. Conducting parallel reviews of the Medium of Instruction Policy and the Secondary School Places Allocation System. Implementing the University Grants Committee's recommendations of the Higher Education Review. Setting up a qualifications framework and the associated quality assurance mechanism. Facilitating the promotion of major arts and cultural events and festivals in Hong Kong, highlighting our status as an international city. Initiating a study on the feasibility of setting up a Hong Kong Visual Arts Academy. Improving the governance and operations of cultural services in Hong Kong, including libraries, museums and performance facilities. Continuing consultation on measures to provide temporary protection to the most meritorious historical buildings. Finalising the detailed planning study on the development of a stadium complex and sports facilities in South East Kowloon. Enhancing the work on the promotion of youth development, civic education and racial harmony.   Contents | Next   2003 | Important notices Last revision date: January 8, 2003