*******************************************************
Following is a question by Hon Audrey Eu and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (April 26):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council of the number of government primary school teachers who applied to participate in the Early Retirement Scheme in each of the 2004/05 and 2005/06 academic years; the numbers of successful applicants, their age profile, and their shortest, longest and average years of teaching; among them, the numbers of degree holders and the respective numbers of those who have met the English and Putonghua language proficiency requirements; as well as the amounts of expenditure involved and the balance of the relevant funds?
Reply:
Madam President,
In the 2004/05 school year, a total of 57 government primary school teachers applied to participate in the Early Retirement Scheme (ERS) for teaching grades staff in the Education and Manpower Bureau. Among them, two applications were withdrawn while being processed, one did not meet the eligibility criteria and the remaining 54 were approved. The statistics required are set out at Annex.
The ERS does not offer any ex-gratia lump-sum payment, and no dedicated funds have been set up for this purpose. Upon retirement under the Scheme, a teacher is eligible immediately for normal pension benefits, i.e. commuted pension gratuity and monthly pensions, as at the date of retirement. Government expenditure to be incurred due to early retirement of the 54 teachers is estimated at about $45.2 million for one-off commuted pension gratuity and about $0.4 million per month for monthly pensions.
As for the 2005/06 school year, 27 government primary school teachers have applied to join the ERS. The applications are being processed and the requested information is thus not yet available.
Ends/Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:01
NNNN
