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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (May 12):
Question:
Regarding the Comprehensive Student Guidance Service implemented by the authorities since the 2002-2003 school year, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details of the funds allocated by the Government to the aforesaid service in each of the past three years;
(b) of the respective numbers of social workers, Student Guidance Officers and Teachers employed by primary schools for implementing the aforesaid service in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the name of the school; and
(c) given that primary schools are not required, when implementing the aforesaid service, to employ social workers at present, whether the authorities have planned to implement the scheme of "one school social worker for each school" in primary schools, so as to ensure that each primary school will have a school social worker; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) The amount of funds allocated by the Education Bureau (EDB) for the implementation of the Comprehensive Student Guidance Service (CSGS) in the past three school years, i.e. 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, are $216 million, $211 million and $212 million respectively. The funds cover the salaries of Student Guidance Officers (SGOs) and Student Guidance Teachers (SGTs), and the payment of Student Guidance Service Grant (SGS Grant).
(b) EDB has implemented measures to enhance the provision of student guidance service in primary schools progressively by raising the manning ratio of student guidance personnel and improving the funding modes. Schools are provided with SGO, SGT or SGS Grant. Primary schools receiving SGS Grant may, based on their own needs, exercise greater flexibility to procure student guidance service from non-government organisations or directly recruit full-time or half-time student guidance personnel with appropriate professional qualifications. These guidance personnel can be registered social workers, registered teachers with counselling experience or other personnel with equivalent qualifications. EDB does not collect statistics on the employment of social workers by schools using the SGS Grant. The table below shows the number of schools concerned over the past three years. A breakdown by school is at Annex I.
No. of schools No. of schools No. of schools
School provided provided provided
year with SGO with SGT with SGS Grant
2006/07 115 165 352
2007/08 102 155 341
2008/09 90 148 325
(c) The CSGS is an integral part of primary education. Schools should integrate the CSGS with other domains at school (e.g. management and organisation, learning and teaching, etc) and adopt different strategies to implement preventive and developmental school-based guidance curriculum and programmes for all students, as well as provide individual or group counselling for those in need. Hence, SGOs, SGTs or student guidance personnel need to plan and deliver services having regard to the circumstances of the schools concerned and the students' developmental needs. Currently, upon the resignation or retirement of an SGT, some schools would recruit a new SGT to fill the vacancy while others would apply for replacing the SGT post by the SGS Grant. In short, different funding modes have different characteristics that suit the needs of different schools. The existing diversified funding modes are well received by schools and sponsoring bodies and can meet the student guidance service needs of primary schools. As such, the Government has no plan to implement "one school social worker for each school" in primary schools.
Ends/Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 12:31
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