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Owners' corporations, mutual aid committees and district organisations will have access to more venues for their activities, thanks to a new initiative by the Kowloon City District Council.
The council this month (April) has launched a pilot scheme to hire some school halls and classrooms for these organisations to hold meetings and non-profit-making community activities.
The council has accepted a funding proposal from the Kowloon City District Office for setting aside about $340,000 to hire school halls and classrooms in the district at weekends from April 18 to September 26, for free use by non-profit making district organisations.
Seven schools - ELCHK Hung Hom Lutheran Primary School, Hung Hom Government Primary School, Iu Shan School, Lok Sin Tong Primary School, SKH Holy Trinity Church Secondary School, Pui Ching Middle School and CCC Wanchai Church Kei To Primary School - are participating in the scheme.
The principal of Pui Ching Middle School, Mr Yip Chee-tim, said the school understood the community's great demand for venues for organised activities. He said the school was happy to support this trial scheme, adding that some groups had already borrowed the school's facilities for use on non-school days.
"Our school can hire out different facilities to cater for the needs of activity organisers. For example, at present, a school hall and a classroom are hired out. In the future, we may consider reserving two connecting classrooms with sliding partitions which facilitates their transformation into a large conference room to meet the practical needs of the organiser," he said.
District Officer (Kowloon City) Miss Winky So said, "We are very grateful for the support of the schools in contributing to the optimal use of social resources. As the idea of hiring school facilities for district organisations is a new concept, we will review the scheme's effectiveness after the trial."
Owners' corporations and mutual aid committees may submit their applications now. From next month, the scheme will be extended to cover non-profit-making activities organised by charitable or non-profit-making bodies.
School facilities will be available only for use at timeslots other than pre-scheduled school activities. Interested groups in Kowloon City may submit their applications to the District Office, which will approve the applications in conjunction with a working group of the District Council.
Application forms are available at the District Office's Public Enquiry Service Centre (PESC) or its sub-offices. The PESC is located in Room 1707, 17/F, One Harbourfront, 18-22 Tak Fung Street, Hung Hom. For enquiries, please call 2621 3411.
Ends/Monday, April 13, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:32
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