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The following is issued on behalf of the Education Commission:
The Chairman of the Education Commission, Dr Moses Cheng, today (February 27) welcomed the Government's increase in the expenditure on education as announced in the Financial Secretary's 2013-14 Budget.
Dr Cheng said, "As the Chairman of the Education Commission, I am glad to note that education is the biggest expenditure area with estimated recurrent expenditure of $63 billion. This represents more than one-fifth of total recurrent government expenditure.
"The 2013-14 Budget provides additional resources to implement various education initiatives, in particular I welcome the injection of $5 billion into the Language Fund to further promote bi-literacy and tri-lingualism among our people, scaling Hong Kong's competitiveness to new heights in the international community. The additional injection into the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund to set up scholarships for outstanding local students interested in joining the teaching profession to take degree courses or teacher training programmes in prestigious overseas universities and to undertake to teach in Hong Kong upon graduation is also an encouraging initiative."
"Vocational and academic qualifications are equally important to enhance the quality of our human resources. I welcome the Government's funding support for the Industry Training Advisory Committees to launch new initiatives to enhance the knowledge and skills of workers in various industries, as well as the setting up of scholarships to support tertiary students with special education needs in their pursuit of academic and other excellence."
"I firmly believe that these education initiatives in the Budget will help nurture our talents, promote social mobility and provide a long-term economic driver for Hong Kong."
Dr Cheng added that the Education Commission will continue to work closely with the education and other sectors in offering advice to the government on various education issues with a view to enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:09
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