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The following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa,at the Opening Ceremony of the "Education Exposition 2002" today (March 8):
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to the opening ceremony of the "Education Exposition 2002". The Exposition showcases evidence of success and progress in our education reforms through a total commitment of the community and frontline workers since the establishment of the HKSAR. I am very pleased to have the opportunity today to witness and share with you all these achievements.
Education is the cornerstone of civilization and prosperity, the foundation for our future success, and a ladder to social mobility. Our aims of education for the 21st century are to ensure continuous improvement to the quality of education on the basis of universal education, and to provide students with wide opportunities and options to develop to the full their unique and personal potentials. We aim to leave no students out. Our young people are indeed bright and versatile, making remarkable accomplishments in information technology, mathematics, fine arts and sports. To maintain competitiveness and ensure success in our future development, we should spare no efforts in developing talents in various sectors and nurturing a generation of young leaders for Hong Kong.
To cater for the needs of a knowledge society, sharpen our competitiveness and add new momentum to our economy, we need to push forward with our education reforms. Our goal is to develop an education system that encourages all-round development and lifelong learning, enhances students' interest and effectiveness in learning, and nurtures a generation of young people who enjoy learning and have creative thinking, good communication skills and a strong sense of commitment. Our education reforms focus on increasing the diversity of the school sector, improving school facilities, initiating curriculum reform and providing teachers with more space for professional development.
Over the past five years, we have been progressing well with measures to increase the diversity of the school sector, with a number of through-train mode schools, direct subsidy schools, private independent schools and senior secondary schools established or in the pipeline. We have also expanded our senior secondary and post-secondary education opportunities, and opened up new avenues of learning, e.g. Project Springboard and associate degree programmes, offering students more opportunities and options in pursuing studies and seeking employment. The Government has also set aside $5 billion for the Continuing Education Fund to subsidise those with learning aspirations to pursue continuing education and training programmes in specified areas.
In improving school facilities, we have sped up school improvement programmes, pressed on with whole-day primary schooling and encouraged variety and flexibility in the school design. We have strengthened our professional support for teachers and schools, encouraged sharing of experience among them, and created more space for teachers to bring their strengths into full play. We will strive on to give greater support to teachers.
To boost motivation and effectiveness in learning, we need to push forward with reforms in curriculum, teaching methods and student assessment. One of the objectives of today's exposition is to disseminate and promote successful teaching experience among educators and the community, through demonstrations and exhibition of examples of life-wide learning, project learning, language education, information technology education, assessment for learning enhancement, teacher professional development and a new culture of school-based management.
Despite some teething problems at the initial stage of the reforms, our education development has witnessed obvious and encouraging progress in recent years as the measures gradually take effect. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this. I am sure that we will stand to reap more fruit when all measures take deeper root. We still have a lot to do in the next few years. We have to press hard on bi-literacy and tri-lingualism and upgrade our students' language ability. We have to create more tertiary education places, to change the present three-year university degree structure to a four-year one and the present secondary school structure to a "3+3" system, and to introduce other essential education reforms. Never will the current fiscal restraints undermine our resolve to deliver the pledges of improving education and nurturing talents.
To develop Hong Kong's human capital is a shared vision of the community, and a shared mission of us all. I hope businessmen, the social services sector, parents, district community leaders, educators, i.e. all sectors of our community, can each play a part and make their contributions to the realisation of this vision. It is the Government's duty to provide basic education to all school-aged children and ensure that nobody is deprived of further education or studies for lack of financial means. As for schools and school sponsoring bodies, it is their duty to ensure efficient use of resources in the interest of students, thereby maximising the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Parents are the best partners to schools. They can help teachers alleviate their workload by sharing some manual work or providing other aids in support. They can also help students cope with emotional and academic problems to increase the effectiveness of learning. Close home-school cooperation is the key to quality education, while a pool of talents will be the most dynamic impetus to our future social and economic development. I call on the business and professional sectors to have active participation in Hong Kong's education development by providing additional resources and professional services.
The Government is fully committed to improving the quality of education. We hope that hand in hand, every member of the community can move forward to open up a new horizon for education in Hong Kong. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, "Promoting education lays the foundation of nation building; nurturing talents ranks top of policy making." I call on all sectors of the community to come forward and join our efforts to support education, to support our teachers and our students. This will help us create a high-performing education sector and pave the way for Hong Kong's future success.
My heartfelt thanks to all participating schools and organisations and all staff working for this exposition. I wish the event the greatest success and our education workers a bright prospect. Let us all pitch in to develop Hong Kong's talents.
Thank you very much.
End/Friday, March 8, 2002
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