*********************************************

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

Question:

The school-based after-school learning and support programmes introduced by the Government will cater for Primary 1 to Secondary 7 students who are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments or full grant under the Student Financial Assistance Scheme, or such students who cannot take part in fee-charging learning activities because their families are poor. In particular, the programmes will also target at students who do not have adequate parental support and guidance, because their parents are too busy earning a living or are themselves not competent enough to provide support. The grant under the programmes should not be used for providing material assistance to students, such as school uniform, musical instruments, etc. Moreover, the Government has earmarked a recurrent provision of $75 million per annum to implement the programmes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the criteria for identifying those students who cannot take part in fee-charging learning activities because their families are poor, and the criteria for identifying those students who do not qualify; apart from encouraging schools to open up the programmes to all students, how the authorities can avoid labelling poor students in the process of receiving applications from students and their participation in the activities of the programmes;

(b) of the measures to encourage poor students to take part in such activities, whether they include assisting poor students who are not provided with material assistance for participating in such activities, as well as the specific measures adopted by the authorities to facilitate co-operation between schools and non-governmental organizations in implementing the programmes; and

(c) how the provision of $75 million, the maximum amount of grant which can be applied for each activity and the cap on the maximum subsidy per eligible student are determined?

Reply :

Madam President,

(a) The School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes (hereinafter referred to as 'the programmes') will cater for Primary One to Secondary Seven students who are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) or full grant under the Student Financial Assistance (SFA) Scheme.  They are economically deprived and their families do not have the means to let them take part in fee-charging learning activities.  Besides, schools are given discretion to select other needy students for the programmes, for example, students who are poor but their families refuse to receive CSSA and SFA.

    Identification of the target group in schools is not as difficult as one perceives. Besides staying at home, students spend most of their time in schools.  Teachers, especially class teachers, counselling teachers and school social workers, etc., not only know about students' academic performance, they also have a general understanding of the family background of their students.   Through observations of students' behaviour and contacts with students' parents, many teachers in fact know which students are coming from disadvantaged families.  

    To avoid labelling students from disadvantaged families, we encourage schools to open up the programmes to all students.  We will also remind schools to pay special care in processing students' applications in order not to disclose the personal information of students in receipt of subsidy.

(b) As mentioned above, schools generally know the family situation of their students quite well.  In this regard, programmes that cater for the genuine needs of students, coupled with proactiveness in showing concern and making invitation by teachers, are effective in encouraging disadvantaged students to actively participate in activities.

    We understand that disadvantaged students have different needs in different areas.  Apart from providing material support, we believe that helping needy students to build up their self-esteem, develop their self-directed learning capacity and improve their self-reliance is essential. If a school thinks there is a need to provide material support for disadvantaged students in order to encourage them to participate in certain after-school programmes, it should deploy other funding or seek sponsorship as appropriate for these purposes.  Schools should also consider adopting the mode of resources sharing and developing a system for lending resources (such as musical instruments) to students in need.  

    We have consulted school councils and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the arrangements for the school-based after-school learning and support programmes.  The modus operandi described above is the outcome of the discussion with relevant parties.  In fact, schools and NGOs have been co-operating closely in providing student counselling services.   EMB will continue to maintain close ties with the social service sector.   Regional Education Offices will also provide information and sharing opportunities in the local communities to facilitate matching and co-operation between schools and NGOs at different levels.      

(c) In estimating the amount for the  grant, we have considered factors such as the estimated number of needy students (students who do not have adequate parental support and guidance, either because their parents are too busy earning a living or are themselves not competent enough to provide support), the resources required to provide focused support to the target group, the services which can be provided and the workload which can be borne by schools and NGOs, etc.

    To cater for the overall learning experiences of students, we require schools to consider the students' needs and school's development strategies in planning the after-school programmes for the whole school year.  With reference to the existing resources required by schools and NGOs in organising similar programmes, we have set the maximum subsidy per eligible student to $3,600 per annum.  Since the number of disadvantaged students differs from school to school, we have not set a cap on the subsidy for each programme. However, the cash grant given to schools will be determined by the nature of the programmes and the number of students in the target group.   Since  schools should not replace any similar existing services with the programmes to be supported by the grant, the resources currently deployed by schools for similar services will be one of the considerations in determining the amount of grant disbursed.

Ends/Wednesday, May 11, 2005

NNNN