Transcript of remarks by SED
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Reporter: So Mr Ng, what are you going to say about the criticism … I think you are saying that the Bureau only consulted two associations before making the announcement (to cease the Extensive Reading Scheme Grants). And the second question is that some schools have said they were not even informed about the decision because they only found out (about it) in the footnote of a document. So why did the Bureau not use a more official way to inform the schools?
Secretary for Education: Thank you very much for the question. As I said earlier, items of this nature have been in existence for over 20 years. It is not an issue of cutting resources. It is an issue of reintegrating and rearranging the resources to make it more effective for schools to deploy. So that is point number one. Number two is that there are standing procedures and channels for consultation. I heard about a few principals suggesting that, well, you know, that there has been insufficient consultation and channels as well as timing. So we will bear it in mind in future to strengthen and further fine-tune the way of consultation. Last but not least, let me repeat: most of the councils and school councils have been consulted. If you look at some of the media reports, actually some of the representatives already stood up and explained as well. I hope that we will have more time to try to explain in more detail so that there will be no misunderstanding and everybody will be on board on the subject.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:18
Issued at HKT 18:18
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