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The Secretary for Education (SED), Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, yesterday (January 21, London time) addressed the Education World Forum in London, the United Kingdom (UK), introducing to education ministers from around the world the latest developments and future directions of Hong Kong in education.
Speaking on learning and technology development in Hong Kong, Mr Ng said, "It is one of the key measures announced in our 2014 Policy Address by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government last Wednesday."
He pointed out that Hong Kong has been achieving outstanding performance in international rankings in various aspects, including information technology (IT).
"Over the past two years, Hong Kong has ranked top three in IT, innovation and business environment in Asia as well as in the world. Hong Kong was also among the top five in the digital reading performance of 15-year-old students in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009," Mr Ng said.
To cope with the challenges of the 21st century, Mr Ng said that it would be important for our young people to develop self-learning ability through IT.
He emphasised that the development of IT in education strategies in Hong Kong has all along been aligned with its curriculum reform since its inception in 1998, with the same aim for fostering students' lifelong learning and whole person development.
Following three rounds of five-year IT in education strategy which managed to make progressive advancements in the IT infrastructure, e-resources and e-leadership of schools along with the education reform and curriculum development, the Government is now mapping out the fourth five-year IT in education strategy.
The Education Bureau has adopted four implementation strategies in order to achieve goals in IT in education, namely curriculum development and learning resources, capacity building and knowledge generation, engaging people and forging partnerships, and funding and incentives.
"The IT in education-related initiatives announced in our Policy Address aim to enable our students to become self-directed learners and enhance teachers' competencies in e-learning as well as schools' e-leadership," Mr Ng said.
"In addition to progressively providing wireless network services and other supporting facilities for public sector schools and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools from the 2014/15 school year, we will continue to offer support to schools to build up school capacity and create a learning environment where active learning can take place anytime and anywhere."
He added, "We will also encourage pedagogical innovation and e-learning across the curriculum, and engage parents so that students' e-learning is also well-supported at home."
Noting that investing in education is a commitment to the future, Mr Ng said that the Government would continue to provide every form of support for nurturing the next generation and unleashing Hong Kong's potential.
Speaking on the same occasion were education ministers from Australia and Canada.
Ends/Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Issued at HKT 11:52
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