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E. Optimising Our Demographic Structure and Attracting Talent
87. Many countries face the same problem of an ageing population. While the birth rate in Hong Kong ranks among the world's lowest, our life expectancy is one of the longest. To address demographic change, we need to focus on two aspects. First, the problems arising from an ageing population. Second, the lowering of the quality of our population. Our efforts include expediting the development of human capital and promoting healthy ageing.
Education Reform
88. The quality of our population hinges on education. We have, since reunification, spent 10 years developing our education on all fronts and taking forward education reform. The education reform has produced the desired outcomes. I would like to thank our teachers for their persistent efforts over the years, without which the results we see today would not be possible. The education reform process has now entered a consolidation and fine-tuning stage. This will help consolidate achievements, and meet the reasonable demands of stakeholders.
12-year Free Education
89. Hong Kong has been providing nine-year free education through public primary and secondary schools. Some people consider that this should extend to senior secondary forms. To demonstrate the Government's steadfast commitment to education and the nurturing of our next generation, we will offer 12-year free education starting from the 2008-09 school year. We will fully subsidise students in public secondary schools, including senior secondary education. For students under the new three-year senior secondary education structure starting from the 2009-10 school year, we will provide 12-year free education. For those secondary students under the existing structure, we will provide 13-year free education.
90. Some Form Three school leavers have chosen to enrol in full-time subsidised courses provided by the Vocational Training Council instead of pursuing senior secondary education. Starting from the 2008-09 school year, the Government will fully subsidise these courses to provide an alternative free avenue for senior secondary students to further their studies other than in mainstream education.
Small-class Teaching
91. I have pledged to implement small-class teaching in my Election Platform. Starting from the 2009-10 school year, small-class teaching will be implemented in Primary One of suitable public primary schools by phases. By the 2014-15 school year, this initiative will be extended to all classes from Primary One to Primary Six. Some people consider that small-class teaching is just one of the means to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. As such, a one-size-fits-all approach requiring all schools to reduce the class size should be avoided. In fact, in some school nets, if all schools implemented small-class teaching, there would be a shortage of school places. The full implementation of small-class teaching hinges on having enough teachers and classrooms. Therefore we need to be flexible and pragmatic in implementing this policy. As the preference and conditions necessary for small-class teaching vary among schools, the Education Bureau will allow flexibility and fully consult the stakeholders and respect their opinions in formulating detailed implementation arrangements, which are expected to be finalised by September 2008.
Education Hub
Expanding the International School Sector
92. It is important for us to develop a vibrant international school sector to underpin our aspiration to be a global metropolis and fortify our status as a regional education hub. We will make available a number of greenfield sites at nominal premium for the development of new international schools or the expansion of existing schools with interest-free capital works assistance loans. We will study the feasibility of allowing the international school sector to develop hostel facilities on a trial basis, with a view to attracting students from different parts of the world.
Attracting Outstanding Students to Hong Kong
93. Attracting more outstanding students to study in Hong Kong will enlarge our pool of talent and enhance the quality of our population. It will also help create a diversified cultural and learning environment, and broaden the horizons of our students. The Government will introduce a package of measures which includes increasing the admission quotas for non-local students to local tertiary institutions, relaxing employment restrictions on non-local students, as well as providing scholarships to strengthen support to local and non-local students.
Contributing to Our Community
94. Non-local students taking full-time and locally-accredited programmes at degree level or above will be allowed to take up part-time jobs on campus and full-time summer jobs outside campus without the prior approval of the Immigration Department. These students are also free to take up study-related internships arranged by their tertiary institutions. We will also relax the restrictions on seeking employment after graduation and the condition of stay during employment in Hong Kong. Such measures will enhance our status as an education hub and bring young, new and high quality talent into our population.
Attracting Talent
95. The large-scale development projects to be launched require talented people from everywhere. Last year, 28 000 people from different corners of the globe came to work in Hong Kong and settled here. Among them, about 5 500 came from the Mainland. Global competition means that we have to compete for markets as well as talent. Hong Kong's future development requires more talent from the Mainland and overseas. I will modify the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme by relaxing the restrictions on age limit and other prerequisites. We will also actively promote the Scheme in order to attract more Mainland and overseas talent to come and contribute to the development of Hong Kong.
Health Care Reform
96. We take pride in our current health care system. Our health care personnel are highly professional. The public health care system provides quality subsidised health care services to the general public, ensuring that no one with financial difficulties will be denied proper health care. But there are causes for concern. For example, the proportion of our old-aged population continues to rise. According to the population projection, the proportion of those aged over 65 will increase from less than one eighth of the present population to more than one fourth of the population by 2030. The incidence of diseases, including chronic illnesses, has been rising. We anticipate that the demand for health care services will increase substantially.
97. We need to plan ahead for these challenges so that Hong Kong will maintain its competitive edge. Given the increasing demand for health care services, we need to devote more resources to this area. We also need to implement a comprehensive and fundamental reform of our health care system to maximise medical benefits and promote the good health of the community. We plan to adopt a full range of health care reform initiatives. They include enhancing primary health care and promoting family doctor-based services; introducing more services through public-private-partnership; encouraging healthy competition between the private and public sectors, and purchasing health care services from the private sector. We will explore alternative models of public-private-partnership to provide health care services and develop medical centres of excellence. We will also study the establishment of medical centres in paediatrics and neuroscience to upgrade our health care services, and develop a territory-wide, patient-oriented electronic health record.
98. While taking forward these reforms, we need to face reality. Given the inevitable increase in the proportion of long-term health care expenditure as a percentage of GDP, we must make long-term arrangements for health care financing. The purpose of health care financing is to support health care reform and ensure the sustainable development of our health care system rather than reduce the Government's commitment. I have decided to increase the Government's recurrent expenditure on medical and health services from the present 15% to 17% in 2011-12. However, it is impossible for the Government to increase public health care expenditure indefinitely. We must also introduce supplementary financing in parallel. The Secretary for Food and Health will give an account of various reforms, including details of the financing package, and conduct a public consultation by year end. I hope that the community will take this opportunity to forge a consensus on taking forward health care reform.
(To be continued)
Ends/Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:35
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