The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:
 
     The Chairman of the Education Commission, Mr Tim Lui, today (October 10) welcomed the education initiatives announced in the Chief Executive's 2018 Policy Address.

     Mr Lui said, "As the Chairman of the Education Commission, I share the view that talent, in particular our young talent, is the most important element in Hong Kong's continued development. I welcome the Government's commitment to devote substantial resources to education, pursue the education policy objective of nurturing quality future generations, promote reforms and introduce effective programmes for furthering quality education.

     "Following the in-depth reviews on eight key areas of education proposed in the 2017 Policy Address, I am very glad that the Government, having regard to the views of the task forces, has undertaken to implement some recommended measures as early as possible. These include, starting from the 2019/20 school year, providing additional resources each year to strengthen administrative support for public sector and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools and their management committees; increasing the recurrent subsidy to the Federations of Parent-Teacher Associations and Parent-Teacher Associations of schools in order to foster parent education and home-school co-operation; and implementing the all-graduate teaching force policy in one go in public sector primary and secondary schools to raise teachers' professional status and to attract talent to the teaching force. In addition, the Government will introduce a series of measures to cater for the different needs of students. These include the improvement of various support measures under the integrated education policy and the provision of additional resources to enhance support for non-Chinese speaking students (including those with special education needs). The Government will also inject $800 million into the Gifted Education Fund to strengthen support for the development of gifted education and set up a $2.5 billion Student Activities Support Fund to enable students with financial needs to participate in out-of-classroom learning activities.
 
     "For post-secondary education, I am pleased to note that the Government will inject $20 billion into the Research Endowment Fund, propose to launch a new Research Matching Grant Scheme with a total commitment of $3 billion for three years and introduce three new regular fellowship schemes to strengthen research capacity and cultivate a research culture. Starting from the 2019/20 academic year, the Government will also extend the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/Sectors to subsidise about 2 000 students per cohort to undertake designated self-financing sub-degree programmes. To promote vocational and professional education and training, the Government will regularise the Pilot Training and Support Scheme to provide 1 200 training places per year, enabling more trainees to receive professional training and join industries with a keen demand for manpower under the 'Earn and Learn' model."
 
     Mr Lui added, "Government expenditure on education is the most meaningful investment in our future. The Education Commission will continue to contribute advice to the Education Bureau on various education policies to further enhance the quality of education in Hong Kong in order to nurture outstanding talent and foster the continual social and economic development of Hong Kong."

Ends/Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Issued at HKT 17:00

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