Education Hong Kong invests heavily in education which takes up about 20% of the annual budget, the largest single share of any policy area. Promoting the use of information technology (IT) in schools and improving language standards were the two major areas taken forward in the past year. Following extensive consultation, a five-year strategy on IT in education was released in November 1998. Major measures include enhancing the provision of computers in primary and secondary schools, providing schools with access to the Internet, providing training for teachers to enable them to use IT as a tool for teaching, providing professional and technical support through the Information Technology Education Resource Centre, introducing pilot schemes in selected primary and secondary schools to establish best practices in using IT in teaching and learning. These measures are at various stages of rolling out. As part of ongoing and concerted efforts to enhance the teaching of English in public sector secondary schools, about 330 native English-speaking teachers (NETs) arrived in Hong Kong in September 1998 for the start of the new school year. In tandem with this was the implementation of mother-tongue teaching in a majority of secondary schools to fully develop students' potential by teaching them in a language which allows them to learn most effectively. These schools have received additional resources in support of English language teaching, including extra English teachers, an English language class grant and additional English-language programmes. Since the 1980s, it has been government policy to encourage schools to adopt Chinese as the medium of instruction (MOI). As from September 1998, the number of public sector secondary schools adopting mother-tongue teaching increased from 70 to about 300. Separately, 114 schools have satisfied the requirements for effective use of English as the MOI and are permitted to use English for teaching all academic subjects. The government's language policy is to enable students to be biliterate (written Chinese and English) and trilingual (fluent in Cantonese, Putonghua and English). The government recognises the need for students to be IT literate and for better language standards - in English and Chinese - to maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge as an international, commercial and financial centre and to support Hong Kong's close ties with the Mainland. A HK$5 billion (US$640 million) Quality Education Fund was established in January 1998. In the first two calls for projects in 1998 and 1999, more than 1 100 projects in some 1 000 schools have been granted funds totalling HK$576 million (US$74 million). Last updated: June 1999