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The Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, this afternoon (March 23) visited Sham Shui Po District to get first-hand updates on its development. She also met people of the district to learn about their daily life and the kind of community services they needed.
Accompanied by the District Officer (Sham Shui Po), Ms May Chan, Miss Yue first stopped at Delia Memorial School (Broadway), a secondary school under the Direct Subsidy Scheme. Its vision is to teach students with an open-minded attitude and to strive to understand people of different cultures and places with mutual respect.
Currently, it provides Chinese medium as well as English medium classes to some 900 students, most of whom are from South Asia.
Miss Yue met the principal, teaching staff and student representatives and joined them on a tour of the school campus. She said she was pleased to learn that students with different cultural backgrounds were able to receive a holistic education at the school.
She was also impressed by the school's efforts to provide life-wide learning to students by subsidising student exchange activities with the Mainland and sponsoring a school leaver to study Chinese medicine in Beijing.
Miss Yue then proceeded to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre which is housed in a renovated factory building, the former Shek Kip Mei Factory Estate. The centre provides 124 studio units ranging in size from 300 to 1,200 square feet for artists and art groups to encourage them to create art and to hold cultural activities.
During her visit to the centre, Miss Yue took the opportunity to chat with the artists and learnt that the centre provided a creative environment for a wide range of artistic activities, including visual, performing, media and applied arts. She said she was glad to know that more than 120 artists and art groups had made use of the facilities there.
Miss Yue's last stop was the Serene Club, a social enterprise run by the Hong Kong Down's Syndrome Association to provide vocational training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The integrated clubhouse has been housed in a private building since its opening in March last year to promote healthy lifestyles and a sense of social integration.
Miss Yue toured the clubhouse which has a cafˆm and provides facilities including a physical fitness centre, a dancing hall, a massage room, four beauty massage rooms and an aromatherapy centre.
She also stayed to chat with the staff there to gain a better understanding of their daily work.
Ends/Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:07
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