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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kenneth Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (February 6):
Question:
The Chief Executive has announced in the 2013 Policy Address that the Education Bureau is setting up a designated committee to examine the feasibility of implementing free kindergarten education. Regarding the statistics on all existing kindergartens in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of kindergarten places and students, with a breakdown by District Council (DC) district;
(b) of the number of kindergarten teachers, with a breakdown by their academic qualifications (Bachelor's degree, Diploma or Certificate in Early Childhood Education);
(c) of the number of kindergartens in each DC district, with breakdowns by whether (i) they are half-day or whole-day ones, (ii) they are private or non-profit-making, (iii) the school premises of which are owned by their sponsoring organisations or rented properties, (iv) they are occupying school premises owned by the Government, non-governmental organisations or private owners, and (v) the principals of which are reaching the retiring age within three years;
(d) of the respective average amounts of school fees and miscellaneous fees charged, and the respective average school fee subsidies received under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, by private and non-profit-making kindergartens last year;
(e) whether it knows the average amount of monthly rental expenses incurred by the kindergartens the school premises of which are rented properties as well as the average lease period for the rented properties; and
(f) whether it will publish the detailed information of each kindergarten on the government website (including the name and address of the kindergarten as well as the relevant information for (a) to (e) above)?
Reply:
President,
(a) A breakdown of the numbers of kindergarten places and students in the 2012/13 school year by District Council (DC) district is at Annex I.
(b) According to the information provided by schools, 3 471 kindergarten teachers possess a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or relevant qualifications and 6 411 teachers possess the Certificate in Early Childhood Education. The above figures are provisional for the 2012/13 school year and do not include supply teachers and child care workers.
(c) (i) A breakdown of the numbers of kindergartens offering half-day (HD) and/or whole-day (WD) classes in the 2012/13 school year by DC district is at Annex II.
(ii) A breakdown of the numbers of non-profit-making (NPM) and private independent (PI) kindergartens in the 2012/13 school year by DC district is at Annex III.
(iii) to (v) The Education Bureau (EDB) does not have information on whether the school premises are self-owned by their sponsoring bodies or rented properties; whether the school premises are owned by the Government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or private owners; and whether the principals will reach the retiring age within three years.
(d) For last year (the 2011/12 school year), the average amounts of HD school fees charged by PI kindergartens and NPM kindergartens were $44,338 and $21,177 respectively. As for miscellaneous fees charged on the students by kindergartens, they are normally related to the sale of exercise books, school uniforms and other items/services. As it is up to the parents to decide whether to purchase such items/ services, prior approval from the EDB is not required. Therefore, the EDB does not have the relevant statistics.
In the 2011/12 school year, the total expenditure on the Pre-primary Education Voucher (PEVS) was about $2,000 million, and thus the average amount of fee subsidy under the PEVS for each kindergarten was about $2.7 million. Under the PEVS, the total fee subsidy for each kindergarten depends on the number of students eligible for the voucher. The amounts of fee subsidy under the PEVS among kindergartens vary greatly given the variation of students enrolled in each kindergarten. The school fees charged by kindergartens range from $10,820 to $50,400, whereas the numbers of students enrolled in kindergartens range from 10 plus to nearly 1 400.
(e) As kindergartens are required to provide rental expenses to the EDB only when they submit their applications for fee revision, EDB does not have information on the rental expenses of all kindergartens. Thus we are not able to provide the average amount of monthly rental expenses. Likewise, we do not have information on the average lease period for kindergartens.
(f) The EDB compiles the Profile of Kindergartens and Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres (the Profile) annually for public reference. The Profile covers the most updated information provided primarily by the schools as at the time of compilation, in which names and addresses of kindergartens as well as information mainly covered in paragraphs (a) to (e) above are included. However, kindergartens are not required to provide information on whether their premises are self-owned by their sponsoring bodies or rented properties; whether the premises are owned by the Government, NGOs or private owners; whether the principals will reach the retiring age within three years and the average lease period of the premises, etc.
To enhance transparency and to enable the public to understand the operation of kindergartens under the PEVS, all PEVS kindergartens are required to provide the relevant information set out above. For non-PEVS kindergartens, provision of such information is on a voluntary basis. Printed copies of the Profile are made available at kindergartens, the Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department, the Maternal and Child Health Centres, the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society and public libraries in various districts between October and November each year. In tandem, online version of the Profile is also uploaded onto the website of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation at: www.chsc.hk/kindergarten/.
Ends/Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:28
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