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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (February 18):

Questions:

Under the Information Technology ("IT") in Education Project, a grant has been made to schools for the 2002/03 and 2003/04 school years for appointment of an additional teacher to share the teaching load of members of the IT coordination team of the schools concerned. The period of appointment of these teaching posts will expire at the end of August this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the period of appointment of the above posts will be extended; if so, of the details about the source of funding and length of extension etc; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

In May 2002, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) announced that every school would be given a cash grant for appointment of an additional teacher to share the teaching load of members of its IT coordination team for a period of two years. In other words, the grant will cease upon the end of the 2003/04 school year, and the appointment for the posts concerned will not be extended.

The objective of the grant was to help taking forward the strategy launched between 1998 and last August on Information Technology in Education (ITEd) and to provide support to schools during the period. The first ITEd strategy was completed in August last year. On hardware and equipment, each primary school has on average 85 computers; and secondary schools, 225. All schools have been linked to the Internet. All teachers in Hong Kong have received basic training in the use of information technology in education. The Hong Kong Education City, an education portal corporatized in 2002, has been providing teachers and students with online support for learning and teaching. The Government, the education sector and the private sector have all made concerted efforts in organizing activities to enhance students' use of information technology in learning.

While we recognize the role of the grant in promoting ITEd strategy, the grant is not intended to be continued because over time, schools have already accumulated experience in promoting ITEd. Teachers are now generally familiar with the planning and application of ITEd.

The EMB is considering combining ITEd-related grants and providing schools with greater flexibility in the use of such grants by streamlining their conditions of use. Schools will have greater autonomy to utilise resources according to their own needs. They may appoint additional teachers or teaching assistants to share or help out with tasks relating to ITEd in schools. They may also procure services provided by the IT industry to relieve the workload of teachers.

In addition, under a school-based management approach, schools can adjust the use of the resources allocated to address their particular circumstances, including teaching and school development needs. Schools may integrate ITEd with general teaching. They may also assign relevant duties to technical support staff, and work relating to maintenance to administrative support staff, with reference to the guidelines issued by EMB.

Ends/Wednesday, February 18, 2004

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