The Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, visited Yuen Long District this afternoon (July 24) to meet with members of the Yuen Long District Council and view the summer activities in a local primary school.
 
     Accompanied by the Chairman of the Yuen Long District Council, Mr Shum Ho-kit, and the District Officer (Yuen Long), Mr Enoch Yuen, Mr Yeung first went to the Yuen Long District Council, where he listened and responded to the questions raised by District Councillors and exchanged views on education and other related district issues.
 
     Mr Yeung then visited Tung Tak School in Kam Tin to learn more about the school's development plan and exchange views with the school head and teaching staff. He also boarded a library bus, stationed beside the playground, to share the joy of reading with some students participating in summer activities.
 
     Mr Yeung said he was pleased to learn that the school has made every effort to promote reading. Besides refurbishing a bus to turn it into a library bus, the school has also organised an annual reading award scheme and its teacher-librarian has also held regular reading sessions for teachers and students to make video presentations to recommend books and share their experience and joy of reading. Related activities, such as parent-child reading, handicraft making and thematic storytelling workshops, have also been organised to nurture the reading habits of the students. 
 
     Starting from the 2018/19 school year, the Education Bureau will disburse a new Promotion of Reading Grant to all public sector schools with a view to nurturing a good reading culture in schools, enabling students to derive pleasure from reading, and enhancing their reading abilities.
 
     The total expenditure on the Promotion of Reading Grant will amount to $48 million per year. A recurrent subsidy of $30,000 will be provided for each special school, $20,000 to $40,000 for each primary school and $50,000 to $70,000 for each secondary school.
 
     The grant can be used to procure books and organise various school-based reading activities, including subscriptions to web-based reading schemes and the hiring of service providers such as writers and storytellers, as well as organisation of seminars, storytelling and parent-child reading sessions.

Ends/Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Issued at HKT 17:35

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