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The Education and Manpower Bureau will organise nine parents' briefings from February 1 to 10 to help parents better understand details of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme which will be launched in the 2007-08 school year.
Parents are welcome to attend any of the briefings organised in different districts (see annex) to suit their convenience.
Details of the briefings are now available at the bureau's homepage on parents' talks (http://www.emb.gov.hk/parentstalks). Parents can download the reservation forms from the website and make their reservations via facsimile or telephone.
The scheme aims to provide fee subsidy for parents of children attending nursery, lower and upper classes in eligible local non-profit-making kindergartens and in parallel, to subsidise teachers' professional development. As transitional arrangements, private independent kindergartens meeting the prescribed requirements of non-profit-making kindergartens except for the non-profit-making status are also allowed to participate in the scheme within the three-year transition period from the 2007-08 school year to the end of the 2009-10 school year.
Applications for the Certificate of Eligibility under the scheme have already begun. Application forms together with information leaflets can be downloaded from the designated website for Pre-primary Education New Milestone on the bureau's homepage (http://www.emb.gov.hk) and the webpage of the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) (http://www.sfaa.gov.hk). They are also available at District Offices, Post Offices, the bureau's Regional Education Offices as well as the SFAA.
Enquiries about applying for the Certificate of Eligibility under the scheme can be made to SFAA's hotline at 2154 2130. For other details of the scheme, parents can call the bureau's hotline at 2891 0088.
Ends/Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:34
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