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The Education Bureau and the Committee on Home-School Co-operation (CHSC) today (July 31) jointly released on their respective homepages the updated version of the Profile of Kindergartens and Kindergarten-and-Child Care Centres 2006/07.
"To enhance the transparency of kindergartens as expected by parents and pledged by the Government in implementing the PEVS, we have sought to provide more essential information to facilitate parents to make choice of kindergartens for their children," a bureau spokesman said.
"The profile covers more than 1000 kindergartens and kindergarten-and-child care centres. Of them, some 840 have participated in PEVS. Among the information published in the preliminary version in March, the new version has updated the approved school fees of kindergartens for the 2007-08 school year. For kindergartens joining PEVS, their approved school fees after redemption of voucher will also be shown," the spokesman said.
"Other information includes the number of teaching staff, professional qualification of the principal and teachers, enrolment statistics, teacher-to-pupil ratio and details of teaching and learning information of individual kindergartens as well as other charges they may collect."
All kindergartens joining PEVS are also required to disclose information on application of fund to various expenditure areas, in addition to other essential operational and curriculum details. This can reveal the way the kindergartens have made use of their resources on teachers and students, which is a matter of concerns to parents.
Links to information on "Quality Assurance Inspection Summary Reports" and "Good Practices on Pre-primary Education" are also provided to facilitate parents to make informed choice of schools for their children.
Hardcopies of the profile will be available for parents' reference at the Regional Education Offices of the bureau, Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department, Maternal and Child Health Centres of the Department of Health and Integrated Family Service Centres of the Social Welfare Department effective from September 19. The profile will also be placed at public libraries for parents' reference from October 8.
For more details, please visit the Education Bureau homepage (http://www.edb.gov.hk) or the CHSC website (http://chsc.edb.hkedcity.net).
Ends/Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:46
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