The Education Bureau (EDB) announced today (June 23) that results attaining specific language proficiency levels in Urdu and Hindi, which are newly included in Category C Other Languages (OL) subjects of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Examination, will be accepted as meeting the entry requirements of relevant civil service grades.
      
     New arrangements for Category C OL subjects (French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish) have been implemented by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) starting from the 2025 HKDSE. Candidates are required to take the stipulated language examinations administered by the respective official organisations in Hong Kong. Their results obtained at the stipulated examination grades/language proficiency levels or above will be included in their HKDSE Examination Category C results and reported on their HKDSE certificates. Starting from the 2026 HKDSE, Urdu is included in Category C OL subjects. Starting from the 2028 HKDSE, Hindi will be included as the seventh OL subject. The related arrangements are the same as those for the existing OL subjects. For details, please refer to the HKEAA website.
      
     In light of the above latest arrangements, the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) accepts the specific language proficiency levels attained in Urdu (from the 2026 HKDSE Examination results release day onwards) and Hindi (from the 2028 HKDSE Examination results release day onwards) in the HKDSE Category C OL examination (Details are in the Annex) as meeting the requirements of "Level 2/Level 3 in one of the five subjects in the HKDSE Examination" for civil service non-degree grade appointment purposes.  Regarding the OL results obtained in the 2024 HKDSE Examination or before, the existing acceptance arrangements will remain unchanged. For matters related to civil service recruitment, please visit the CSB website.
      
     An EDB spokesman said the Government has long been offering the OL subjects as elective subjects at the senior secondary level to develop students' multilingual competence, enabling them to make life planning based on their interests, abilities and aspirations, and to connect with the world. 

Ends/Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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