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LCQ4: Diversified Education and Training Opportunities

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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Kwok Hung and in the absence of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, an oral reply on diversified education and training opportunities by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (February 2):

Question:

It has been reported that in order to achieve savings, the Education and Manpower Bureau has not only outsourced the provision of government evening school courses since 2003, leading to substantial increase in tuition and reduced enrolment in the courses, but also has not decided whether or not to continue subsidizing such courses in the next school year. Some students taking such courses have proposed that the Bureau should revert to subsidizing the relevant courses directly, or include the evening secondary school courses, evening primary school courses and evening English courses in the Reimbursable Courses List of the Continuing Education Fund. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the tuition levels as well as the numbers, genders and age groups of the students enrolled in government evening schools in each of the past three years;

(b) when it will decide whether or not to continue subsidizing the relevant courses in the next school year; and

(c) whether it will accept the above proposals, if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

In recent years, the Government has allocated many resources for providing diversified education and training opportunities, such as setting up the Continuing Education Fund (CEF), launching the Workplace English Campaign (WEC), Project Yi Jin (PYJ), and Skills Upgrading Scheme, offering different progression paths for the public and furnishing them with more opportunities and choices for continuing education. Among them, the PYJ provides an alternative path for the adult learners and some Secondary five school leavers to attain a qualification comparable to five passes in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.

Apart from the above progression paths, the Government has, effective the 2003/04 school year, commissioned two course operators to run the evening adult education courses and continued to provide subsidies, in order to ensure that the fees are kept at the levels of the 2002/03 school year and to facilitate the learners to complete their respective key stages of study.

I would now reply to Hon Leung Kwok Hung's questions as follows:

(a) In the 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05 school years, the enrolments of the subvented classes in the evening adult education courses are 11 170, 6 073 and 3 066 respectively. Among them, around 70 per cent to 80 per cent are aged from 20 to 49, and about 60 per cent are female. The tuition fees for subvented classes in the 2003/04 and 2004/05 school years remain at the level of the 2002/03 school year, that is, from free to 2,650 dollars per annum.

(b)&(c) The Government is considering to provide subsidies to learners with financial difficulty to pursue some of the evening adult education courses. Details will be submitted to the Panel on Education for consideration later.

Besides, learners pursuing English language courses may apply for relevant subsidy under the WEC and the CEF. At present the commissioned operators for the evening adult education courses are also offering a number of reimbursable courses under the CEF, such as the Certificate in Business English (Preliminary Level), to provide learners with more choices.

Ends/Wednesday, February 2, 2005

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