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The Education and Manpower Bureau announced today (November 24) that five new school premises under planning would be open to applications by eligible school sponsoring bodies (SSBs) for reprovisioning existing primary and secondary schools in the Third School Allocation Exercise (SAE) 2006.
"Existing schools which are of old planning standards and designs may be incapable of infrastructure improvements due to the lack of space and other physical constraints. Through the Reprovisioning and Redevelopment Programme, the Government seeks to provide better facilities to these schools by rehousing them in new school premises or conducting on-site redevelopment for them. The school premises under planning and available for allocation in this exercise include three secondary school premises which are located in Kwun Tong, Sha Tin and Southern District as well as two primary school premises in Sham Shui Po. They are open to applications for reprovisioning existing schools which are in need of infrastructure upgrade," a bureau spokesman said.
"Allocation of the school premises is on a competitive basis. Quality of education will be the prime consideration in assessing schools' reprovisioning applications. Factors to be considered include the operation track record of the school proposed to be reprovisioned, the school plan after relocation and the physical condition of the school's existing premises.
"In general, we believe that schools with site area less than 3,000 square metres and premises over 30 years old, without having benefited or have only marginally benefited from the School Improvement Programme, will warrant our serious consideration, but this is not a prerequisite for the submission of applications since each case has to be assessed on its merits. In addition, the location of the applicant schools, i.e. whether they are currently operating in the same district as the location of the new school premises, will be taken into account."
"In line with established arrangement for reprovisioning projects, the successful applicant will be required to surrender its existing school site to the Government in accordance with the lease condition upon relocation," the spokesman said.
All applications will be considered by the School Allocation Committee comprising an equal number of official and non-official members familiar with the Hong Kong education system. The applicant SSBs are required to complete a reprovisioning application form and submit it together with the required supporting documents, and a proposed school plan (of not more than 10 pages including all annexes plus a two-page executive summary) covering the vision and mission, management and organisation, learning and teaching, school ethos and support for students, performance targets and self-evaluation indicators. The applicant SSB may also make reference to other school(s) that it is operating and the respective performance of the school(s) to substantiate its case.
In line with the bureau's established policy for school allocation, the applicant body should be a charitable institution or trust of a public character exempt from tax under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, and is:
(1) incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, with its memorandum and articles of association contain all the standard clauses and articles required for allocation of a school; or
(2) incorporated under other ordinances, with its constitution satisfying the Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower as being fit to be considered for allocation of a school.
Application forms for the Third SAE 2006 and other reference materials can be downloaded from the bureau homepage (http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeid=246&langno=1). More information on this school allocation exercise can also be found in the homepage.
Applicant bodies are required to submit to the Infrastructure and Research Support Division (Room 1427, 14/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong) by December 22, 2006 one copy of their application form and the supporting documents, together with 15 copies of the proposed school plan and executive summary.
For enquiries, please call 2892 5436 or 2892 6391.
Ends/Friday, November 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:04
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