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IV.Cultivating Talents for a Knowledge-based Society 52. The quality of our people has a direct bearing on Hong Kong's competitiveness in the next century. It determines whether we continue to develop economically, our wealth continues to grow and our lives continue to improve. To realise our vision of Hong Kong as a world-class city with a thriving economy and an affluent and culturally rich society, it is first and foremost necessary to cultivate and retain a critical mass of talented people. I will now deal with a number of issues related to developing our human capital: education, youth development and admission of talented people. A.The Need for Education Reform 53. In my last two Policy Addresses, I devoted much attention to education. In my address today, education remains a key issue because in the next century, knowledge-based economies will take the lead in the world. It is imperative that our education system keeps pace with the times. 54. Thanks to years of expansion in education opportunities, Hong Kong people have attained a reasonably good educational level. On the whole, the performance of Hong Kong students studying abroad is on a par with their classmates, both local and foreign. And quite a number of the Honourable Members and leading figures in our community have attended secondary school or university in Hong Kong. All these speak for the achievements of our educators and officials responsible for education. However, times change, and the world moves on. We need to review and continuously improve our education and training system, just as other advanced communities are doing. I have thus asked the Education Commission to assist the Government in conducting a comprehensive review of our existing education system. The public consultation exercise on the aims of education held by the Commission this January generated an enthusiastic response from the community. 55. I support many of the suggestions made by our community as to how our education system might be reformed. For instance, many educators maintain that education should go beyond imparting academic knowledge to our students. Rather, it should aim at an all-round development of our children, including development not only in knowledge but also in personal character, skills, attitude and physique. In addition to normal academic studies, our students need to learn how to become responsible and caring individuals. There are suggestions that we review the curriculum, reduce the number of subjects and integrate the formal curriculum with extra-curricular activities so as to give our students a well-rounded education and to develop their intelligence and creativity. 56. In addition, the focus of our education system should be on cultivation, not elimination, and examinations should not be reduced to a mechanism of producing losers. Even for those who fail exams, there should be proper channels for continuous learning in our system. Education should not be limited to formal schooling. Rather, it should include on-the-job training and continuing education. I consider it necessary to put in place specific measures to ensure that all our young people, regardless of qualifications and abilities, are given the opportunity of continuous learning. 57. There should also be better interfacing between the various stages of formal education, for example, between primary and secondary education, and between secondary and higher or professional education. 58. As for early childhood education, which lays the foundation for effective learning, our top priorities are to enhance the professionalism of teachers and to ensure that the curriculum and teaching methods are conducive to children's healthy development. 59. If Hong Kong wishes to become a knowledge-based economy in the information age, we must continue to innovate and change. This is why we must embrace "life-long learning". School education should aim at fostering in students an interest and an ability in learning so that they are able to acquire knowledge throughout their lives and respond effectively to changing circumstances. 60. The Education Commission is now consulting the public on our entire education system. In this second round of consultations, it is inviting views on the approach for reform and its initial thinking on the school curricula, education systems, assessment methods and the interface between the various stages of education. I have noted the public's initial support for the proposals and the wish that these be implemented as soon as possible. I expect the Education and Manpower Bureau to give me the final report by the middle of next year when the Commission has completed the whole review. I hope to see the early implementation of those recommendations receiving general public support. B.Progress of Improvement Measures 61. I am pleased to see the progress made by the Government in raising the quality of education and improving various important areas of the system over the past two years, while we consult the public on education reform. Initiatives have been implemented as a foundation for the way forward. Let me now give a brief account. Introducing Administrative Reforms 62. Our policy is to delegate full authority and responsibility to schools and their front-line staff as far as possible. The Education Department has started devolving administrative and financial responsibilities to schools in stages. This is resulting in a leaner departmental management structure. At the same time, we are implementing measures to strengthen school-based management and enhance the schools' accountability. 63. We have pledged that, beginning from September 2004, all new kindergarten principals would have to complete the Certificate in Kindergarten Education course. In order to improve the quality of our kindergarten education at a faster rate, we will advance this target by two years to September 2002. Improving the Learning Environment 64. Whole-day primary schooling is an important part of our efforts to raise the quality of education. It is important because it allows teachers more time to focus on giving the students an all-round education in ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics. At the same time students are able to enjoy a better school life. We have made good progress in providing whole-day schooling for primary school students. The percentage of primary students enjoying whole-day schooling has risen from 19% in 1997 to 32% this year. By September 2002, the percentage will have doubled to reach our earlier interim target of 60%. We have set the long-term target of achieving whole-day schooling for almost all primary school students by the 2007-2008 school year. 65. The Government set up a $5 billion Quality Education Fund last year to support school-based innovative practices and to improve the quality of teaching and learning. To date, we have granted some $580 million to over 1 000 projects, benefiting more than 600 000 kindergarten, primary and secondary students. The projects have improved the effectiveness of both teaching and learning, and have encouraged the teachers and principals involved to try out more creative ways of teaching. Promoting Information Technology in Education 66. Since the publication of the five-year strategy on information technology in education last November, the Administration has been implementing the measures in stages. We have offered schools cash grants for purchasing computers, provided 120 schools each with an information technology co-ordinator, and begun information technology training for teachers. There has been a change in the education sector's mindset towards the use of information technology. Initially they had reservations. Now they embrace the idea and are responding positively. Within the next five years, our school children will be able to master the general application of information technology, connect to the Internet, and be equipped to become life-long learners with inquiring and creative minds. Upgrading the Quality of Teachers 67. We are progressively upgrading all pre-service training courses provided by the Hong Kong Institute of Education for primary and secondary school teachers, from sub-degree to degree or higher level. The first batch of students will graduate in 2002. Other tertiary institutions also offer degree courses in education. By 2004, we will have upgraded all the pre-service training programmes for primary and secondary school teachers to degree level. 68. The Government will also provide comprehensive training programmes for school principals. The first programme is scheduled to commence in the 2000-2001 school year. Thereafter, all newly-appointed principals will have to complete the first part of the programme prior to appointment. 69. It is the SAR Government's goal to train our people to be truly biliterate and trilingual. To ensure that all teachers achieve a necessary standard of language ability, we have established language benchmarks for those teaching English in junior secondary schools and Putonghua in primary schools. The relevant training programmes and examinations will start next year. Thereafter, newly-appointed teachers must pass the language benchmarks. By 2005, all serving language teachers must have attained the benchmarks. That is, starting from next year, there will be an objective mechanism to ensure that language teachers have the necessary standards and the ability to teach in the relevant languages. 70. Chinese is one of the most widely used languages in the world. It is also an important tool for exploring our own cultural heritage. We must continue to improve the Chinese standards of our students, both written and spoken. 71. Mother-tongue teaching was introduced to help students learn more effectively. Most secondary schools adopted mother-tongue teaching in September 1998. Since then, we have found that students have improved in both their cognitive and learning abilities. According to the feedback from some schools, their Form 1 students receiving mother-tongue instruction have achieved better results in all subjects, including English. 72. As a cosmopolitan city, we must ensure that more people can use English and use it better. The business sector has been complaining of a decline in the English standards of our younger generation since the early 1990's. In prompt response to their proposals and as a short-term measure, next year the Government will join hands with the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), and our industrial and business sector in launching a territory-wide publicity campaign to promote the use of English. The aim will be to enhance the English standards of the workforce and our students. In the long term, we will continue to improve the quality of our English teachers and the method of instruction in schools to ensure that students master basic language skills at an early stage of their education. Since early 1998, we have been providing at least one additional native-speaking English teacher for each secondary school. I am pleased to note that positive results have been achieved in the past year. 73. I have pledged to provide support for the development of quality private schools and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, as a move to introduce greater diversity and to give parents more choice. Recently, the Government granted two sites for the operation of non-profit-making private schools. In addition, four school premises have been allocated for the establishment of non-profit-making schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme. We will continue to allocate resources in the coming year to support the development of such schools. I hope that more aided schools will join the Direct Subsidy Scheme, so that there will be even greater diversity in our education system. 74. We have always encouraged tertiary institutions to strive for greater achievements and to turn their special strengths into areas of excellence of international standard. The institutions have given an enthusiastic response. The University Grants Committee received a total of 41 proposals on the development of "areas of excellence". The three chosen propose strategies for developing information technology, biotechnology, and economics and business strategy as Hong Kong's areas of excellence. The University Grants Committee will provide over $120 million in total over five years to the relevant institutions for implementing their proposals. Reforming the Admission System 75. Local tertiary institutions have started to admit students with exceptional performances in non-academic fields in order to encourage a more balanced development of our students. This year, a total of 277 students who excelled in non-academic fields were admitted by eight institutions. I look forward to seeing further reforms in the admission system that tie in with the future development in Hong Kong's education. 76. In my last Policy Address, I put forward the concept of "life-long learning". I am glad to see that it has gained extensive support in the past year and has been chosen as the theme of the second phase of consultation conducted by the Education Commission. 77. Our higher education institutions and the Open University are each adopting different measures to promote life-long learning. At present, over 200 000 Hong Kong citizens are already engaged in some form of further studies in these institutions. To encourage this trend, we have made available various forms of financial support. Starting from the 2000-2001 academic year, we will further extend the Non-Means Tested Loan Scheme to include students on self-financing courses in Government-funded tertiary institutions and post-secondary courses in the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education. This will benefit some 80 000 students. Collective Commitment to Education Development 78. It is our target to provide quality education in Hong Kong. Progress in the past two years has generally been in line with our expectations. I am glad that the community as a whole agrees that education is pivotal to Hong Kong's future development and that our education system needs a revamp. Next year, we will have a more comprehensive blue-print for education reforms and concrete plans for carrying them forward. However, it needs to be pointed out that education reform is a long-term undertaking. Many initiatives, albeit supported by the community at large, must be implemented step by step. It takes time to achieve the desired results. Moreover, if we are to provide more learning opportunities, to recruit more teachers with higher academic qualifications, and to initiate reforms in each and every aspect of the education system, we will need substantial new resources. The Education Commission has rightly pointed out that good education is the collective responsibility of the entire community. The Administration will provide its share of resources for education and ensure their efficient allocation. At the same time, the public will need to play a bigger role in shouldering its share of the responsibility. I hope that the community will come up with more suggestions on this aspect during the Education Commission's consultation, so that we can work in concert and more quickly attain our goals for education.
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