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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kenneth Chan and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (October 23):
Question:
It has been reported that the government funding received by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) is not sufficient for meeting the expenses in conducting public examinations, and given that HKEAA has to operate on a self-financing basis, it may not have enough resources to improve its software and hardware facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total public funding received by HKEAA, its income of examination fees from various kinds of public examinations and its total expenditure on conducting public examinations, in each of the past five years;
(b) whether it will consider reviewing the existing mechanism for funding HKEAA and the level of funding; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether it will consider meeting the expenses of all public examinations from public coffers so as to exempt candidates from paying examination fees, thereby alleviating their financial burden; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the questions raised by the Dr Hon Kenneth Chan is as follows:
The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) was set up in 1977 under the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance (HKEAAO) (Cap. 261). It is an independent statutory body. Its major function is to administer public examinations to cater for the needs of the local education system and society and assist in conducting professional and international examinations. According to Section 9 of the HKEAAO, the resources of the HKEAA consist of the fees paid by candidates sitting the public examinations or taking other examinations or assessments conducted by the HKEAA, payments received for services rendered by the HKEAA, subsidies provided by the Government to assist towards the cost of conducting public examinations, etc. The income of HKEAA is mainly derived from examination fees, followed by the sale of publications and provision of assessment services for individuals and organisations.
(a) As the HKEAA is the only statutory body responsible for administering the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Examination and a strategic partner of the Government in providing quality education and support to the new senior secondary academic structure, the Government will provide non-recurrent grants to the HKEAA for launching special and non-recurrent initiatives related to the public examinations if there are sound justifications. Not only can this lower the cost of running the public examinations and maintaining the examination fees at a level affordable by the public, but can also ensure the income from the examination fees are largely sufficient to cover the recurrent expenses of HKEAA.
The one-off grants to HKEAA approved by the Finance Committee (FC) of the Legislative Council in the past five years (i.e. 2009 to 2013) are set out at Annex A.
The examination fee income and expenditure of the HKEAA in conducting the public examinations in the past five years are set out at Annex B.
(b) HKEAA utilises its own income and assets to support its daily operation according to the HKEAAO. The Government will provide HKEAA with non-recurrent grants if there are sound justifications so as to reduce the cost of conducting the public examinations. The existing mechanism is running smoothly and the Government currently has no intention to change the mechanism. Nevertheless, the Government will continue to monitor the impact of the financial status of HKEAA, the operational expenses of conducting the public examinations, the level of examination fees and the special and non-recurrent services that must be provided by HKEAA so as to evaluate the need of the HKEAA for non-recurrent grants.
(c) Public money must be used properly. The user-pay principle is an effective fee-charging mechanism normally used in different policy areas. Based on this principle, it is not appropriate for the Government to subsidise the examination fees for all candidates. Nevertheless, the Government understands that the public examinations play a vital role in determining the prospects and pathways of the candidates. Therefore, the Government has other policies to ensure that there will be no students who, because of financial difficulties, cannot enter for the public examinations which are considered as appropriate by the schools.
In view of the financial burden of the needy students in paying examination fees when applying for the public examinations, the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) administers the Examination Fee Remission (EFR) Scheme to provide assistance to the eligible students with financial needs for entering public examinations conducted by the HKEAA. Eligible students can apply for either full grant or half grant. In the 2012/2013 school year, around 25 600 students were successful in applying for the EFR, representing around 34% of the school candidates. The total amount of grants provided was $52 million. In addition, the Social Welfare Department also provides students from families receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) with assistance to cover public examination fees. Therefore, there will be no eligible students who cannot enter for the public examinations because of financial difficulties.
Apart from financially subsidising the examination fees of the needy students, the Government will also provide HKEAA with non-recurrent grants where justified so as to reduce the cost of public examinations. Furthermore, according to the HKEAAO, the public examination fees have to be approved by the Government. In considering whether to approve the examination fees proposed by the HKEAA, the Government will take into consideration all related factors such as inflation, the economic conditions of Hong Kong and the financial status of the HKEAA. We consider the current mechanism reasonable and fair as it can ensure that there will be no eligible students who cannot enter for the public examinations because of financial difficulties, and at the same time the examination fees can be maintained at a level affordable to the general public.
Ends/Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:55
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