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Kindergarten education has to be sustainable in the long run to maximise its benefits, the Secretary for Education (SED), Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, told a world assembly in the United States (US) today (July 28, Washington, DC, time).
During his duty visit to the US, Mr Ng was invited to speak and interact with 150 experts and participants from 44 countries/regions, including 11 from Hong Kong, at the 67th World Assembly of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education in Washington, DC.
Mr Ng said, "One of our top priorities for the HKSAR Government is to implement three years of free kindergarten education for children aged from 3 to 6, making the aspiration of 15 years of free education in Hong Kong possible.
"The Committee on Free Kindergarten Education set up in 2013 submitted an extensive report to the Government two months ago after two years of hard work, with recommendations in different areas, such as defining the long-term objectives of kindergarten education, building a committed professional teaching team by improving the teacher-student ratio, enhancing the social status and reward mechanism for teachers, creating a career ladder for their development and advancement, and addressing the quality standards of kindergarten premises."
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Mr Ng stressed that to create a new policy and to make it a reality, "sustainability" is one of the core principles since it is recognised that a coherent infrastructure to achieve the objectives of kindergarten education has to be sustainable in the long run to maximise the benefits of kindergarten education.
"Our mission is to provide a sustainable policy that respects the uniqueness of kindergarten education in Hong Kong as well as the diverse needs of children, and to provide equitable access to quality kindergarten education that promotes a lifelong learning attitude and balanced development of a person, with joy for learning and teaching," he added.
He said he believed that the experiences shared at the World Assembly would help the Government, together with the kindergarten education sector in Hong Kong, map out a financially viable, educationally sound and sustainable new policy for subsidising kindergarten education.
Mr Ng also met and exchanged views on governance structures of higher education institutions with senior representatives of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. Accompanying him were the Secretary-General of the University Grants Committee, Dr Richard Armour; the President of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Timothy Tong; the President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Tony Chan; and the Political Assistant to the SED, Mr Jeff Sze.
They also met with Mr Art Hauptman, an internationally renowned expert on higher education finance issues, to learn about ways to develop financing strategies for the tertiary education sector in countries around the world.
During his stay in Washington, DC, Mr Ng also met with some local academics and members of the Hong Kong community to brief them on the latest developments in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Issued at HKT 10:53
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