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In response to press enquiries, a spokesman for the Education and Manpower Bureau said today (January 18) that the provision of student guidance (SG) personnel or SG Service Grant to primary schools would be improved from the original teacher-to-class ratio of 1:24 to 1:18 with effect from the 2006-07 school year.
"Following consultations with the school sector last year, we have decided months ago to enhance the provision to help schools and teachers better cater for the developmental needs of pupils and cultivate an inviting school environment conducive to learning and teaching," he said.
At present, one SG teacher or one unit of SG Service Grant, currently amounting to $417,330 per year, is provided to each primary school with 24 classes or more. Schools with five to 23 classes are each provided with 0.5 unit of the Grant.
The expenditure on SG service in the current school year is $210 million. It is anticipated that the enhancement will require an additional funding of some $21 million in the 2006/07 school year.
The spokesman added that the Government would continue to invest in education and would make the best use of resources to assist schools and teachers in upbringing the younger generation.
Citing as an example the Capacity Enhancement Grant (CEG) introduced to reduce teachers' workload, the spokesman said that based on its successful implementation over the past few years, the bureau had decided to continue with the initiative for at least three years from the 2005-06 school year.
"The bureau recognises the continual need for CEG to relieve the workload of teachers," he stressed.
The spokesman reiterated that the bureau, as announced last week, would seek the approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council to top up the existing CEG with an additional $1.65 billion as a blister programme for a period of three years to enable schools to hire additional staff or outside services to relieve teachers of the workload arising from school-based assessment and the Territory-wide System Assessment.
He said the bureau would maintain dialogue with school councils, education bodies, school heads, teachers and other stakeholders to address their concerns and implement various education policies with a concerted effort.
One of the latest exchanges was a sharing session organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers yesterday. On top of the abovementioned items, also discussed was the possibility of creating the post of Deputy Head in primary schools, and designating the provision of Primary School Masters (Curriculum Development) and implementation of teaching by subject specialists as long-term policies. Further deliberations with the education sector will ensue.
Ends/Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:42
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