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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, after attending a radio programme today (June 8):
Reporter: Do you see any drawbacks as more subsidised schools turning to DSS (Direct Subsidy Scheme) and will you conduct a new policy to see whether it is really beneficial to the education system?
Secretary for Education: There have been a lot of speculations or suggestions saying that there will be a lot more schools turning to DSS schools. I have looked at the various statistics and the latest trend in evidence. I found out that since 2008/09 until now, there have been only three successful cases. Within that period, there is no application at all at the primary school sector. Altogether we have 73 DSS schools which contribute to only around nine per cent of total schools in Hong Kong. Therefore it seems that the original intent of providing diverse streams of education services for parents and students to choose is still there.
The other question is: are we going to conduct another review? As I said earlier, we will be monitoring closely various education policies and this (DSS) is one of those. However, since the suggestion from the Audit Commission in 2010 saying that the transparency of the 10 per cent spending on subsidies or scholarships as well as the transparency of financial standing of those schools, which has been captured, a lot of improvement has been made. This is part of the monitoring process. I will be closely monitoring if there are any particular issues popping up in this area and others.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, June 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:36
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