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Following is a question by the Hon Eric Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (December 11):

Question :

Regarding the funding arrangement of the "Operating Expenses Block Grant" for aided schools which was introduced in the 2000/01 school year, will the Government inform this Council of the following as at September this year:

(a) the respective amounts of reserves held by the aided schools with the highest and the lowest cumulative reserves;

(b) the number of aided schools without any cumulative reserves; and

(c) whether there are aided schools whose extra-curricular activities for students have been affected by the early exhaustion of the grant; if so, how the authorities deal with the problem?

Reply :

Madam President,

As the 2001/2002 school year has just drawn to a close, the Education Department can only provide the requested information on Operating Expenses Block Grant (OEBG) based on the audited account of aided schools for the 2000/2001 school year-

(a) The highest cumulative reserve is held by a bi-sessional aided primary school operating a total of 48 classes. The cumulative amount is $3.88m. The lowest cumulative reserve is held by a whole-day primary school operating 18 classes. The cumulative amount is $0.

(b) There is only 1 aided school without any cumulative reserve.

(c) Under normal circumstances, the OEBG disbursed to schools should be sufficient to cover the recurrent operating expenses. Actually, according to the information of the audited account of aided schools for the 2000/2001 school year, except for one school, all aided schools have cumulative reserve: over 60% of them have cumulative reserve within $1m; over 30% of them have cumulative reserve between $1m and $2m; less than 7% of them have cumulative reserve exceeding $2m.

Regarding the funding for extra-curricular activities, the Education Department has been actively encouraging schools to organize diversified extra-curricular activities for students. Besides the provision in the School & Class Grant under OEBG for various extra-curricular activities, support has also been provided for specific types of activities such as the Community Youth Club, the Hong Kong Award for Young People, the Hong Kong School Drama Festival, the Chinese Cultural Projects Incentive Award Scheme and uniform group activities. As such, OEBG is not the only source of funds for extra-curricular activities. Moreover, OEBG allows schools to have greater flexibility over their operating expenses in the achievement of school-based objectives. Under the spirit of school-based management, the School Management Committee has the responsibility to establish a proper framework to ensure that government subventions are applied in accordance with the ambits of the grants and the objectives and priorities outlined in the school plan. Schools have to exercise due care in the management of resource to avoid early exhaustion of funds and to ensure that funds are appropriately spent on students' learning and extra-curricular activities.

End/Wednesday, December 11, 2002

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