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Following is a question by the Hon Tang Ka-piu and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (March 18):
Question:
Regarding the places offered by local non-profit-making kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres (collectively referred to as KGs), and the financial assistance provided for the relevant students, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a breakdown by Education Bureau's school district and KG type (i.e. half-day (HD) and whole-day (WD) KGs, as well as long WD KGs which provide services of long hours and on school holidays) of the number of KGs participating in the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) and the total number of school places such KGs offered, as well as the number of students studying in such KGs and the percentage of such number in the total number of KG students, in each school year from 2010/11 to 2014/15;
(2) whether it knows the respective number of students whose admission applications were received by WD and long WD KGs in each school year from 2010/11 to 2014/15, the respective percentage of such number in the total number of KG students in Hong Kong, and the respective success rate of such applications;
(3) of the number of additional KGs, as estimated by the authorities, which will be needed for providing sufficient places should all HD KGs be converted to WD ones; whether the authorities have new initiatives to encourage KGs to provide more WD places; if they do, of the details; whether the authorities have studied the demand for the places of various types of KGs; if they have, of the details;
(4) whether the authorities have conducted any assessment on the feasibility of providing additional kindergarten-cum-child care centres; if they have, of the assessment outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and
(5) of the current number of KG students who come from families receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments and other forms of KG fee remission assistance (other financial assistance) apart from that under PEVS, and the respective maximum amount of such other financial assistance; whether it has plans to formulate new measures to assist such families in paying various miscellaneous fees charged by KGs (e.g. fees for school uniforms, school buses, snacks, activities, etc.); if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(1) The number of kindergartens (KG) under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS), the number of school places offered by these KGs, their student enrolment and the percentage of such enrolment in the total number of KG students of the respective districts from the 2010/11 to 2014/15 school years, with a breakdown by District Council district and type of KGs (i.e. KGs operating half-day (HD) classes only, whole-day (WD) classes only and both HD and WD classes) is tabulated in Annexes 1, 2 and 3. The number of "long whole-day" (LWD) KG-cum-child care centres (Note), the number of places offered by these centres, their student enrolment and the percentage of such enrolment in the total number of KG students of the respective districts in the above school years, with a breakdown by District Council district, is tabulated in Annex 4.
(2) Student admission is a school-based matter. KGs should draw up appropriate admission arrangements in accordance with the requirements of the Education Bureau (EDB) and in the light of their own circumstances. They are not required to provide EDB with information on the number of admission applications received or students admitted. Hence, the statistics required are not available.
(3) and (4) KG education in Hong Kong has all along been provided by the private sector and is characterised by its great flexibility, diversity, adaptability and responsiveness to parents' needs, which include increasing WD services and the number of school places by making use of vacant classrooms or expanding the premises according to the demand. As a matter of fact, with an increase in the number of KG students, the sector has responded to the demand flexibly and the total number of KGs has increased by 21 since the 2012/13 school year. Moreover, not all parents would choose WD services. In the light of this, we consider it not necessary to estimate the additional number of KGs required should all KGs turned into WD operation.
Nonetheless, EDB will closely monitor the supply and demand of KG places in various districts. When needs for additional school places are identified, EDB will encourage KGs to optimise their premises capacities for providing more classrooms or to admit more students by making full use of their registered classrooms (including registered classrooms that are vacant). EDB will also liaise with school sponsoring bodies and encourage them to expand their operating KGs or open new KGs in districts with a demand for school places.
The Committee on Free Kindergarten Education (the Committee) is actively studying practicable ways to implement free KG education. Among others, they will explore means to encourage KGs to provide more WD services to meet the needs of working parents. The Committee will submit a report in the middle of the year.
According to Population Census and projected figures, we have made some estimates on the number of children of appropriate ages for KG education versus the overall demand for KG school places. As regards the conduct of surveys on the demand for various types of KG places, we are of the view that any large-scale surveys should only be conducted with a clear objective and with considerable reliability and reference value. The actual demand of parents for KGs of various operating modes will evolve over time according to changes in family situations or the childrenˇ¦s development needs at different stages. Besides, the choice of parents also hinges on the availability of school places offered by the KGs they prefer. As such, the survey findings may not fully reflect the actual situations. In consideration of the above, we will not consider conducting the related survey at the moment.
(5) As at December 2014, 8 994 KG students are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). Under the CSSA Scheme, KG students are eligible to receive a special grant to cover the school fee on top of the voucher subsidy of the PEVS. The maximum amount of the special grant is $6,490 (HD classes) and $20,490 (WD classes) per annum.
Among the various issues related to KG education that the Committee is studying in detail, strengthening the support for KG students from needy families is one of them. This is to ensure that no children will be deprived of receiving quality KG education due to a lack of means. It is the preliminary view of the Committee that the existing Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme should be maintained and consideration should be given to providing additional financial support for KG students from needy families to meet expenses related to KG education, such as textbooks and other school items. The Committee will further deliberate the issue and put forward recommendations in the report to be submitted in the middle of the year.
Note: LWD KGs are former aided child care centres operated by the Social Welfare Department before the harmonisation of pre-primary services. Currently, there are 246 LWD KGs, all of which have joined PEVS.
Ends/Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:38
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