Minutes of the Fifteenth Meeting of Central and Western District Council

Minutes of the Fifteenth Meeting of

Central and Western District Council

Date

:

5 July 2018 (Thursday)

Time

:

2:30 pm

Venue

:

Conference Room

14/F, Harbour Building

38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong

Present:

Chairman

Mr YIP Wing-shing, SBS, MH, JP*

Vice-chairman

Mr CHAN Hok-fung, MH, JP*

Members

Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, BBS, JP

(2:37 pm – end of the meeting)

Mr CHAN Choi-hi, MH, JP*

Ms CHENG Lai-king

(2:37 pm – end of the meeting)

Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan, JP

(2:34 pm – 3:54 pm and

 6:16 pm – end of the meeting)

Mr HUI Chi-fung*

Mr KAM Nai-wai, MH*

Miss LO Yee-hang, MH*

Ms NG Hoi-yan, Bonnie*

Mr NG Siu-hong*

Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing*

Mr YEUNG Hok-ming*

Mr YOUNG Chit-on, Jeremy*

Remarks: * Members who attended the whole meeting

( ) Time of attendance of Members

Item 6

Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan,

Ingrid, JP

Permanent Secretary for Education, Education Bureau

Mr CHAN Fu-man

Principal Education Officer (Hong Kong and Kowloon), Education Bureau

Ms TONG Lai-fong, Emilie

Chief School Development Officer (Central, Western and Southern), Education Bureau

Item 7(i)

Mr Wilfred AU

Director (Planning and Design), Urban Renewal Authority

Mr Christopher WONG

General Manager (Planning and Design), Urban Renewal Authority

Mr Albert CHAN

General Manager, Community Development, Urban Renewal Authority

Ms Katty LAW

Convenor, Central and Western Concern Group

Item 7(ii)

Mr LEE Hong-nin, Robin

Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) 2, Development Bureau

Ms LEE Cho-yi, Joey

Assistant Secretary (Heritage Conservation) 3, Development Bureau

Mr Henry LAI

Assistant Secretary (Harbour) 1, Development Bureau

Ms Katty LAW

Convenor, Central and Western Concern Group

Item 8

Ms TONG Lai-fong, Emilie

Chief School Development Officer (Central, Western and Southern), Education Bureau

Ms LEE Yuk-kit, Glendy

Senior Librarian (Central and Western), Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Item 9

Mr LEUNG Yin-man

Police Community Relation Officer (Central District), Hong Kong Police Force

Ms YEUNG Wing-shan, Grace

Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Central and Western District Office

Ms BOOK King-shun, Emma

Executive Officer I (District Council), Central and Western District Office

Item 10

Mr Daniel LEE

Senior Manager (Building Rehabilitation), Urban Renewal Authority

Ms Sarah YUN

Senior Manager (Community Development), Urban Renewal Authority

Mr HO Yue-yeung, Jack

Senior Administrative Officer (4), Home Affairs Department

Ms LAM Yee-lai, Decem

Chief Liaison Officer (Building Management), Home Affairs Department

Item 11

Mr CHEUNG Shing-hsi,

Lawrence

Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Community Relations), Environmental Protection Department

Mr TSOI Hok-tin, Ivan

Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Waste Reduction & Recycling) 1, Environmental Protection Department

Mr CHEN Kin-wun, Edwin

Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Special Duties) 1, Environmental Protection Department

Mr LEE Tze-wah

District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Item 12

Mr LEUNG Wing-kee

Senior Telecommunications Engineer (Broadcasting Support), Office of the Communications Authority

Mr CHOW Wing-sang, Charles

Telecommunications Engineer (Broadcasting Support) 3, Office of the Communications Authority

In Attendance:

Mr LAM Hung-chuen

Deputy District Commander (Western District), Hong Kong Police Force

Mr LEUNG Yin-man

Police Community Relation Officer (Central District), Hong Kong Police Force

Mr TSANG Lap-kuen

Senior Engineer/8 (South), Civil Engineering and Development Department

Mr LEE Tze-wah

District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Mr HUNG Tak-chuen, Benjamin

Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong West), Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Mr LEUNG Kwok-man, Lautrec

Senior Transport Officer/Central & Western, Transport Department

Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze,

Susanne, JP

District Officer (Central and Western)

Ms WONG Suet-yi, Penny

Assistant District Officer (Central and Western)

Mr MOK Chi-kin, Jiv

Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Central and Western District Office

Ms BOOK King-shun, Emma

Executive Officer I (District Council), Central and Western District Office

Secretary

Ms YEUNG Wing-shan, Grace

Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Central and Western District Office

Absence with Apologies

Mr LEE Chi-hang, Sidney, MH

Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed all to the fifteenth meeting of the Central and Western District Council (C&WDC), in particular Mr HUNG Tak-chuen, Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong West) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, who attended the meeting for the first time.

2. The Chairman said that since there were many items on the agenda, he proposed that each Member be given three minutes to speak each time to facilitate efficient discussion. Second round follow-up questions and comments by Members would depend on the availability of time. The Chairman also reminded Members to declare interests as necessary and appropriate.

Item 1: Adoption of the Agenda

(2:34 pm)

3. There being no further comment from Members, the agenda was adopted.

Item 2: Confirmation of the Minutes of the 3rd Special Meeting of the C&WDC held on 26 April 2018

(2:34 pm – 2:35 pm)

4. The Chairman said that the Secretariat sent the draft minutes of the third special meeting of the C&WDC to Members on 21 June 2018 by e-mail. The Secretariat had not received any amendment proposal to the draft minutes from Members before the meeting. Members had no comment on the draft minutes of the third special meeting and the Chairman declared that the minutes were confirmed.

Item 3: Confirmation of the Minutes of the 14th C&WDC Meeting held on 10 May 2018

(2:35 pm)

5. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had sent the draft minutes of the fourteenth C&WDC meeting to Members on 28 June 2018 by e-mail. The Secretariat had not received any amendment proposal to the draft minutes from Members before the meeting. Members had no comment on the draft minutes of the fourteenth meeting and the Chairman declared that the minutes were confirmed.

Item 4: Action Checklist on Matters Arising from the 14th C&WDC Meeting

(C&W DC Paper No. 69/2018)

(2:35 pm – 2:36 pm)

6. The Chairman referred Members to the checklist for the progress of follow-up of different items.

Item 5: Chairman’s Report

(2:36 pm)

7. On behalf of the C&WDC, the Chairman congratulated Mr CHAN Choi-hi for being appointed as Justice of Peace (JP) on 1 July 2018.

Item 6: Meeting the Permanent Secretary for Education

(2:36 pm – 4:11 pm)

8. The Chairman welcomed Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan, Permanent Secretary for Education, Mr CHAN Fu-man, Principal Education Officer (Hong Kong and Kowloon) and Ms TONG Lai-fong, Chief School Development Officer (Central, Western and Southern) of the Education Bureau (EDB) to the meeting.

9. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that the bureau had been preoccupied with heavy workload. Over the past decade, there had been considerable changes in Hong Kong’s education system. The EDB had in response introduced various new initiatives to promote improvement in all aspects of the teaching force, schools and students. She would like Ms TONG Lai-fong to present the work and latest initiatives of the EDB first and she herself would respond to Members’ questions and comments afterwards.

10. Ms TONG Lai-fong of the EDB briefed Members on the Government’s work in education. She said that the Government had been putting a lot of emphasis on education and was committed to providing quality education for the community through continuous allocation of substantial resources to education. Under the 2018-19 Budget, the estimated government expenditure on education amounted to $113.7 billion, accounting for 20% of total government expenditure, the highest among all policy areas. In the past five years, the recurrent spending on education increased by about 25% to $84.6 billion. Among which, the student unit cost of aided primary schools had increased by about 20% and the corresponding figure for aided secondary schools had increased by about 40%. The Government attached great importance to continued commitment to education, and it had in the current year introduced a number of initiatives in kindergarten, primary and secondary, post-secondary, and vocational and professional education:

(a)

Kindergarten Education: The Government implemented a new kindergarten (KG) education policy from the 2017/18 school year to provide eligible local non-profit-making KGs with a basic subsidy. School-specific subsidies would also be provided. In the 2017/18 school year, 24 KGs in the Central and Western District participated in the scheme. Under the new policy, the quality of KG education would be improved in various aspects through measures including improving the teacher-pupil ratio, setting out the salary ranges for teachers to encourage KGs to provide competitive remuneration, updating the Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum and refining the Quality Assurance Framework. In addition, the Government also promoted the enhancement of governance and transparency of KGs, strengthened support to cater for students' diversity, implemented a continuous professional development policy for KG teachers, enhanced parent education and involvement, etc.

(b)

Primary and Secondary Education: The Central and Western District provided a diversity of primary and secondary schools, including government schools, aided schools, Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) schools, private schools, schools of the English Schools Foundation and international schools to cater for students’ needs and to enhance parental choice. On teaching manpower, starting from the 2017/18 school year, the teacher-to-class ratio for public sector primary and secondary schools (including special schools) had been increased by 0.1 across-the-board, with an increase of around 2 200 additional permanent teaching posts to alleviate teachers’ workload, as well as to provide additional teaching staff for schools to take forward various education initiatives and create better opportunities for serving contract teachers to be employed as regular teachers. For primary schools, to attract more talent to join the teaching force of primary education, the ratio of graduate teacher posts in public sector primary schools had been increased to 65% in the 2017/18 school year. It was the Government's target to have an all graduate teaching force. Regarding Primary 1 places, the Government anticipated that the overall demand for Primary 1 places would reach its peak in the 2018/19 school year and then progressively decline to a stable level. In tandem, since the Primary 1 student population had been increasing in recent years, the overall student population in primary schools would generally remain stable after the 2018/19 school year as the number of students in other levels (except Primary 1) would remain large. The Government had implemented flexible measures to meet the transient increase in demand for Primary 1 places in recent years in accordance with the consensus reached with the school sector, including borrowing places from neighbouring school nets and adopting temporary allocation of more students per Primary 1 class. Schools in the Central and Western District had borrowed places from neighbouring school nets in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 school years, and adopted temporary allocation of more students per Primary 1 class in the 2018/19 year. These measures would be progressively withdrawn by the EDB as appropriate, which would relieve the pressure on class reduction arising from the diminishing demand for school places. The Government had been paying much attention to the support for students. Starting from the 2018/19 school year, the Government provided extra resources to public sector primary schools and special schools to enable them to progressively implement the “one school social worker for each school” policy according to their school-based circumstances. This aimed to ensure at least one school-based registered graduate school social worker with professional qualifications would be available in each public sector school. Also, under the new policy, all schools would be provided with additional guidance resources. For primary and secondary schools with comparatively large number of students with special educational needs, the Government also enhanced the ratio of educational psychologist to school. It was anticipated that in the 2018/19 school year, the number of schools covered by the enhanced scheme would increase from 80 to about 120. For secondary schools, the EDB had allocated additional resources and enhanced career and life planning education in order to assist secondary students in self-understanding and development, career exploration and career planning and management. The EDB had also provided cash grants to public sector schools and schools could opt to turn the grants into permanent teaching posts. Besides, the EDB would enhance the professional development of teachers and the Business-School Partnership Programme, as well as progressively establish district-based development networks. Schools in the Central and Western District would establish the relevant network in the 2018/19 school year.

In respect of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, it was aimed to enhance the ability of students in integration and application of knowledge and skills. To cope with science and technological developments, the EDB had updated the relevant curricula to strengthen “hands-on and minds-on” activities for students. The EDB would also support schools on various fronts, including promoting coding education, providing learning and teaching resources, and arranging a series of intensive training programmes for middle managers. Furthermore, the EDB had established the STEM Education Centre to provide support services to schools, and collaborated with tertiary institutions and specialists in co-organising STEM learning activities for primary and secondary students. In addition, the EDB had also established a STEM Education School Network to strengthen schools’ professional capacity in promoting STEM education.

On exchange programmes, Ms TONG first presented the Mainland exchange programmes for primary and secondary students. She said the EDB hoped that students would have a deeper understanding of the country's development in terms of history, culture and economics from multiple perspectives, better understand the relationship between Hong Kong and our nation, as well as reflect upon their roles and those of Hong Kong in the development of our nation. Given the positive responses to the programmes, the EDB would organise exchange programmes of various themes with visits to different provinces and cities in line with the renewal of the school curriculum, and national development strategies such as Belt and Road, Greater Bay Area development, etc. In addition, the Sister School Scheme launched since 2004 had served as a platform for professional interflows and cooperation for primary and secondary schools and special schools in Hong Kong and the Mainland. The EDB launched a pilot scheme in the 2015/16 school year. As of today, over 640 pairs of sister schools were formed. As schools showed good response to the pilot scheme, the EDB would regularise the pilot scheme with effect from the 2018/19 school year and the amount of the recurrent grant would be increased to $150,000 per year for each participating school.

On the Quality Education Fund (QEF), the QEF Steering Committee had set aside $3 billion for setting up the Dedicated Funding Programme for Publicly-funded Schools for application by schools to launch school-based curriculum development and support measures for students, as well as to pay for expenses incurred on relevant school campus improvement works and procurement of supplies in connection with relevant school activities. This initiative covered all publicly-funded schools and the KGs under the New Kindergarten Education Scheme. To simplify the application procedures, the QEF had designed a designated application form and uploaded examples to the QEF website for schools' reference.

(c)

Post-secondary, Vocational and Professional Education: The Government had been striving to provide flexible and diversified pathways with multiple entry and exit points to secondary school graduates through the publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary education sectors. The relevant initiatives included the following:

(i)the intake of senior-year undergraduate places in publicly-funded institutions would increase to 5 000 in the 2018/19 academic year to provide outstanding associate degree graduates with more opportunities to receive subsidised university education;

(ii)Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/Sectors (SSSDP): This scheme, which subsidised local students to pursue self-financing programmes in selected disciplines to meet Hong Kong’s manpower needs, would be regularised in the 2018/19 academic year. The number of subsidised places would increase to 3 000 per cohort;

(iii)the EDB provided a non-means-tested annual subsidy for eligible students pursuing self-financing undergraduate studies in Hong Kong. The annual subsidy amount was around $30,000. Eligible students must have attained "3322" in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination when they were enrolled in first-year-first-degree programmes; or attained relevant associate degree qualifications when they were enrolled in top-up degree programmes;

(iv)the EDB provided subsidies to support needy local students to pursue undergraduate studies in the Mainland under the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions. Starting from the 2016/17 academic year, the subsidy scheme had been expanded to cover all eligible students irrespective of the channels for their admission to the institutions. Starting from the 2017/18 academic year, a “non-means-tested subsidy” was introduced under the scheme;

(v)Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme: The EDB subsidised up to 100 outstanding local students each cohort to pursue studies in renowned universities outside Hong Kong, with a view to cultivate a cadre of outstanding young achievers with global vision and world-class education, thereby contributing to the enhancement of Hong Kong's competitiveness as Asia's world city. The scheme would be regularised in the 2019/20 academic year;

(vi)Scheme for Subsidy on Exchange for Post-secondary Students: The EDB had increased the amount of subsidy to support needy students to participate in exchange programmes to distant destinations outside Hong Kong and of long duration;

(vii)Scheme for Subsidy on Exchange to Belt and Road Region: Each eligible student who had passed the means test could apply for subsidies up to $50,000 in total under the scheme;

(viii)UGC-funded research postgraduate programmes: The EDB would inject $3 billion into the Research Endowment Fund for scholarship purposes with a view to developing a local talent pool. The EDB also proposed the establishment of Hostel Development Fund to address the shortfall of publicly-funded student hostel places. The Government had set aside no less than $10 billion as university research funding. Subject to the review findings and recommendations of the Task Force, the EDB would consider in what way resources should be provided to support the academic and research development of the higher education sector;

(ix)Qualifications Framework: The EDB established the Qualifications Framework (QF) in 2008 to encourage lifelong learning and continuing education, with a view to enhancing the overall quality and competitiveness of the local workforce. At present, 23 industries had joined the QF and established Industry Training Advisory Committees. The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council had approved further injection into the QF Fund for the continued implementation of various initiatives; and

(x)Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET): Providing flexible and multiple learning pathways for youths with diverse aspirations and abilities and nurturing the necessary manpower to support the economic growth of Hong Kong. An example was the Pilot Subsidy Scheme for Students of Professional Part-time Programmes which covered programmes in the disciplines of construction, engineering and technology. The scheme aimed at encouraging working adults to pursue continuing education which would help enhance their upward mobility. The EDB had also implemented the Pilot Training and Support Scheme through the Vocational Training Council to provide quality and diversified VPET for young people. The Government had established a task force this year to review how VPET could be better promoted and foster closer business-school collaboration.

11. Ms TONG of the EDB said that looking forward, the EDB would continue to pursue the various policies that promoted and assisted school enhancement in order to tap students’ potential for whole person development, so that they not only learned successfully but could apply what they had learnt.

12. The Chairman thanked Ms TONG for her detailed presentation and invited views from Members.

(a)

Mr HUI Chi-fung expressed concerns on the 15-year free education policy implemented by the EDB. He said that despite implementation of the Free Quality Kindergarten Education, not all KGs were offering free places. Some KGs that were eligible for receiving government subsidy but operating on a whole-day basis still charged their students certain fees. As such, he considered that the EDB had failed to fully implement 15-year free education. He hoped the EDB could explain why it had failed to provide whole-day KGs with sufficient funding so that they could waive school fees, and whether such arrangement was intended to prevent an increase in whole-day KGs. He said that the demand for whole-day KGs was huge in the Central and Western District, but at present there was only one in the district. He said the fact that whole-day KGs were receiving insufficient Government subsidies despite parents’ strong demand for them indicated problems in the policy. Besides, he said that many parents in the Central and Western District were concerned that KGs in the district did not offer nursery classes, which was essential in the provision of early childhood education services in a “through-train” mode. He would like to know the EDB’s stance and future direction in this respect. In addition, he said one of his children was about to enter Primary 1 and the other still in KG. As a parent, he was especially concerned about this year’s Primary 1 allocation results. While the percentage of children allocated to schools of their first three choices remained high, many children in the Central and Western District had been allocated Primary 1 places in schools in the nearby Southern District probably due to the "Year of the Dragon" effect, which was quite an ordeal to them as they had to attend schools cross-district. He hoped that the EDB could provide relevant statistics on school place allocation and explain how the supply of school places in the Central and Western District could match the number of students in the district to avoid cross-district schooling. Lastly, he said that the topic of primary and secondary school textbooks had been discussed in the past. He pointed out that many textbooks had had their content inspected by the EDB and even contained politically biased content. Moreover, he was aware that membership of the EDB’s Textbook Review Panels was not made public and considered the arrangement inappropriate. He hoped that the EDB could make public the membership list of the review panels for public scrutiny. Mr HUI also said that some teaching materials provided by the EDB (such as those on the Basic Law) contained biased content. He hoped that the EDB would not promote things like national education or brainwash students through Basic Law education or teaching materials of Chinese History/Liberal Studies.

(b)

Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan said that more resources had been devoted by the Government to address problems in education in recent one to two years, with an increase in recurrent expenditure. While considering this a good thing, he opined that the Government would need to ascertain who would ultimately benefit more from these resources, whether it was teachers, social workers, or students. He did not reject that improving the quality of teachers would benefit students or that increasing the provision of school social workers could help schools handle students' problems. However, he considered it necessary to clarify whether the increase in permanent teaching posts and school social workers could solve the problems faced by students in the education system. He remarked that students were currently under tremendous pressure in the education system and had encountered difficulties in course learning. Money alone could not solve these problems. His concern was that whether the resources devoted to education policy could be put to proper use to effectively benefit students. In response to Mr HUI Chi-fung’s comment on whole-day/long whole-day KGs, he pointed out that the EDB had been implementing 12-year free education and KGs was not included. He learned that it was because the Government considered the provision of half-day KG services sufficient and there was no data supporting that non-whole-day KG services could enhance the education level of children. However, he opined that the EDB should understand that parents in Hong Kong generally (especially working parents of dual income families) had the need to temporarily entrust their children to whole-day KGs. He said that for a people-oriented Government, it was of utmost importance to relieve the burden on parents. He asked if the Government required substantial data to support that whole-day/long whole-day KGs was good for children before considering extending the free education system to cover this type of KGs. He hoped the EDB would understand that many issues could not be solved by money alone. Examples were STEM education as well as career and life planning education, where provision of subsidy to schools alone was not enough to ensure their proper development. The EDB should step up efforts in respect of the system or network in order to make things work.

(c)

Mr YEUNG Hok-ming declared that he was vice-chairman and alternate parent manager of S.K.H. Lui Ming Choi Memorial Primary School Parent-Teacher Association (The Chairman asked the Secretary to note the relevant declaration; Mr YEUNG could continue to participate in the discussion). He learned that the EDB had recently provided resources to schools for adopting the e-class app through which parents would be able to know the time their children arrived and departed school. Schools could also give parents emergency notification messages via the app, such as weather information (e.g. suspension of classes when RED/BLACK Rainstorm Warning Signal was in force, special announcements issued by school, etc.). He believed that this app enabled parents to swiftly and effectively grasp the latest school news. However, he learned that schools would only receive government subsidy for activating the app, whereas the recurrent repair and maintenance expenses were not an EDB-funded item. Schools therefore had to allocate additional resources of some $20,000 to $30,000. He could not comprehend why the EDB could not provide schools with subsidy for these expenses. In addition, he said that many school premises in the district had a history of 50 to 60 years and were small in size with inadequate facilities. While the Government was implementing diversified education, school premises were not equipped with relevant facilities and even in lack of sports facilities. It was difficult to provide diverse classrooms or information technology classrooms. He learned that the site off ex-Kennedy Town Incineration Plant and Abattoir in the Central and Western District was designated for primary school use. He asked the EDB when the site would be available for application by schools for use. As it would require time for schools to prepare school premise design and make other relevant arrangements after submitting application, he urged the EDB to make available the site for application by schools expeditiously or provide a timetable for application to enable schools to make relevant arrangements. He also suggested that the C&WDC should write to the EDB expressing the hope that the timetable for development of the site be announced as soon as possible, and enquired whether schools in the Central and Western District could be given priority in applying for use of the site to enable optimal use of local resources by schools in the district.

(d)

Ms CHENG Lai-king said she was aware that whole day nursery education was under the management of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), and indicated that these nursery schools were different from the half-day KGs that were entitled to subsidies as mentioned by the EDB. To provide convenience to parents, she suggested that the Government should consider centralising the administration of education services for young children managed respectively by the EDB and the SWD. She opined that the nursery schools managed by the SWD were indeed helpful to parents and enabled young children to learn daily routines. On policies relating to Belt and Road, she did not oppose local schools forming sister schools with schools in the Mainland to promote understanding of the history of China and different places along Belt and Road. She asked the EDB whether the subsidy of $150,000 under the relevant exchange scheme only covered places along Belt and Road. She hoped that the EDB would allow schools greater flexibility in the choice of places to broaden students’ horizons. In addition, she considered that the content of history books must be faithful to history and could not sidestep crucial issues by covering only the desired topics, as history books could help the next generation to understand the origin of Hong Kong through history. Regarding "one school social worker for each school", she said that the EDB had mentioned about registered graduate social worker in its presentation. However, teachers or social workers currently providing student guidance service in schools might not necessarily be registered graduate social workers. She enquired that during the transition to “one registered graduate social worker for each school”, how the Government would handle the non-graduate social workers hired by some schools. She considered that these non-graduate social workers might have worked in respective schools for many years, and had developed a sense of belonging to their schools and were competent in providing student guidance service. She hoped that there would be a smooth interface and their posts could be retained during this period for smooth transition to "one registered graduate social worker for each school" five to 10 years later. Regarding regular teachers and contract teachers, she had heard that new contract teachers were only given a one-year contract, which had to be renewed several times before they could become regular teachers. She considered that young people who aspired to become teachers would like to teach in the same school for a long time, which would be conducive to enhancing their sense of belonging to the school and establishing a teacher-student relationship. If a contract teacher had to leave after completion of the contract, students (especially those who were preparing for the DSE exam) might lose faith in the teacher. She opined that increasing permanent teaching posts could allay teachers’ worries about the chance for contract renewal, which would be beneficial to both teachers and students.

(e)

Mr CHAN Choi-hi expressed concern about the EDB’s policy relating to STEM education. He opined that the letter “A”, representing “Aesthetics”, could be added to become STEAM. He explained that Hong Kong had attached great importance to cultural and creative industries. If arts and cultural ambience was not enhanced during primary and secondary education, students would have a weak foundation in this respect. He considered that arts and cultural elements should be strengthened in the curriculum. He said that while technology competition was the trend in today’s world, he instead advocated competition in terms of culture connotation and standard with a view to cultivating cultural quality and raising "cultural quotient". He was of the view that cultivation of cultural capacity in Hong Kong must be strengthened starting from the primary and secondary levels. He continued that to broaden students' cultural horizons, culture could include traditional Chinese culture and be universal as well. Hence, he opined that the EDB should step up efforts in content selection. In addition, he was concerned about the learning of non-Chinese speaking students (notably ethnic minority students) in the Central and Western District. He had come across many non-Chinese speaking students who could communicate in Chinese, in particular those non-Chinese speaking students born and raised in Hong Kong. They were fluent in Cantonese and even Mandarin but were rather weak in Chinese writing skills. He suggested that the EDB should provide resources to schools to improve non-Chinese speaking students’ proficiency in writing Chinese and English. As regards teachers’ pressure, he had mentioned before that the current education system had exerted tremendous pressure on teachers. Some teachers opined that their work pressure was higher than that of other industries. He understood that the EDB had made efforts to solve the problem by introducing policies, but it was still not enough. He hoped the EDB would continue to introduce more policies in the future to alleviate the pressure on teachers. On nursery education, he shared the views of other Members and said that nursery education could be further enhanced. Regarding the education system, he considered that while the current education system had its fine tradition and merits, the EDB could conduct timely review to optimise Hong Kong's education system to tie in with the development needs of the times as well as societal and environmental needs.

(f)

Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said he shared Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s view that STEM education should be revised as STEAM education. As regards history education, he said that history should be taught as an independent subject. Nationals of a country should know and respect their own history and draw lessons from it. He pointed out that China had a 5 000 years history of civilisation, embodying many fine traditions that the world needed. He hoped that people could learn and inherit from history the essence of traditional Chinese culture, but stressed that he was not advocating to replace other subjects with history. On post-secondary education, he said that apart from the need to allocate additional resources to university education, degree validation and qualification recognition were also important. Apart from the efforts made by individual tertiary institutions, government facilitation was also important, especially in gaining national and international recognition. Mr CHAN said that Hong Kong had built a solid foundation in the development of innovation and technology industry and had huge potential for further development. However, failure to tackle the problems relating to accreditation of degree courses and qualifications would become an impediment to development. He hoped that the industry, relevant institutions and the Government could collaborate in this regard. Lastly, he opined that a proper positioning should be given to public examination. At present, the DSE system had its merits and shortcomings. While the frequency of examinations was reduced, students failed in the current examination would have to wait until the following year to retake. He suggested providing an identical or similar assessment mechanism to complement the same type of or similar qualification accreditation. Regarding the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA), he supported the Government’s move to implement the system after review. He said it was important that schools should be allowed to decide whether to opt for full cohort participation in Primary 3 TSA and would not guide students to study purely for the sake of examination. He said it was necessary to let the community know the current level of student achievement and the standard of school education in Hong Kong to fulfill the purpose of assessment.

(g)

Mr YOUNG Chit-on said he had been Political Assistant to Secretary for Education before. He expressed concern about the doubly non-permanent resident (DNR) children and singly non-permanent resident (SNR) children born in Hong Kong before 2012 to 2013. He said that most of them had returned to the Mainland after their birth in Hong Kong. If they intended to receive education in Hong Kong, the Government would be obliged to let them attend KGs in Hong Kong. As far as he knew, the number of Mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong accounted for a high percentage of overall birth rate. In a certain year, of the some 80 000 babies born in Hong Kong, more than 30 000 were DNR or SNR children. He asked if the EDB could trace whether this batch of DNR or SNR children were receiving education in Hong Kong and their schooling from KG to primary or secondary school. He said that due to the large number of children in that batch, those born during its peak should now reach the age of entering Primary 1. If all these children did come to Hong Kong to receive education, it would have an impact on the allocation of resources, classes and teachers by the EDB. It would also affect parents as a whole as the chance of their children being admitted by their preferred schools would be affected.

(h)

Mr NG Siu-hong said he learned that the Government encouraged students to have a cosmopolitan outlook. Apart from the Belt and Road or Mainland Exchange programmes, he asked whether the Government would provide subsidy to students for participating in exchange programmes to other regions to enable them to learn about different cultures around the world. In addition, he said that Liberal Studies education aimed to cultivate students’ linear thinking and reverse thinking and lead students to reflect on the root of problems. He enquired that apart from advanced regions, whether visits to poor and underdeveloped regions would be arranged under the Mainland Exchange Programmes, such as places where left-behind children, etc., resided. This would enable students to reflect on the aspects in national policy where improvement could be made and allow students to have a comprehensive understanding of China. He considered that students must be aware of both the good and bad sides of society, so that they could contribute to and assist in society’s progress more effectively. In addition, he was concerned whether the Textbook Review Panels would make political considerations when vetting textbooks, given that the content of textbook review must be kept confidential and members of the Review Panels, among which were EDB staff, were appointed by the EDB. As the Secretary for Education was a member of the Chief Executive's governing team, he asked how to ensure that the Review Panels would not have political considerations and whether the EDB had set up a credible monitoring committee or an independent monitoring mechanism to convince the public that textbook review was objective and fair. In addition, he supported Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s suggestion on arts and cultural education. He said that in addition to science, in the era of artificial intelligence and information technology automation, human beings needed to strengthen liberal arts education. Apart from individuals and social atmosphere, these elements were also conducive to cultural and creative industries which could not be replaced by machines and artificial intelligence. Lastly, he hoped that critical thinking could be advocated in Hong Kong’s education in order to take Hong Kong forward and make the best of its freedom. He also supported introducing the elements of critical thinking into the History subject to highlight problems in the system, rather than just singing praises. He considered that the subject of Liberal Studies and existing assessment methods should be retained to cultivate students' critical thinking to enable them to identify the good and bad sides of society. He also expressed concern on the teaching of the national anthem in schools. He hoped that all subjects would include elements of reflection on national policy as this would be beneficial to our nation’s development.

(i)

Miss LO Yee-hang understood that the EDB had made continuous improvements in the education policy. She considered that Hong Kong as part of China, national education and development of our nation were of great importance to the public. She said that not only school children, the grown-ups present also needed to understand our nation’s development. She also said that children as the future pillars of our nation had to understand the country in order to contribute to it. In addition, she enquired of the EDB about the definition of mother tongue teaching in Hong Kong’s education policy. On Chinese history, she supported the Government to enhance Chinese history education. She opined that it was fundamental for Hong Kong students to understand the history of Hong Kong and China. Just like when she was studying in the United Kingdom (UK), she only studied UK’s history and the history of other countries was not taught. She also supported the Government to subsidise students to travel around the world to expand their global outlook.

(j)

The Vice-chairman asked how Hong Kong’s education system dovetailed with its population policies. He said that while the number of students with associate degree qualification was rising, fewer and fewer people had specialised skills. He pointed out that in the past, the option of prevocational schools was available for students who were weaker in arts subjects. When the Government became aware of the shortage of technical staff, such as professional and technical personnel like practitioners in lift and escalator repair works and electrical and mechanical maintenance, the education system would be pre-adapted to meet society’s development needs. As regards associate degree, the Vice-chairman said that the number of associate degree graduates had been rising. Employers might not regard them as bachelor degree holders, and they had few opportunities to obtain a degree. Despite having spent a sum of money on education, they were only regarded as having secondary school qualification when they joined the workforce. This would cause social grievances. He hoped the EDB would explore corresponding solutions. In addition, he shared Mr YEUNG Hok-ming's view that many school premises in the Central and Western District were old and sub-standard, such as without a standard hall. He said that the Government was promoting free KG education but was faced with the problem of land shortage. He pointed out that the Government had earmarked land in planning for primary and secondary schools. However, it seemed that KG was not subject to such planning standards. Many KGs were located in private properties and paying high rents, and thus charging school fees higher than that charged by primary and secondary schools and even university education. He asked whether the EDB had discussed with the Development Bureau (DEVB) on planning to make appropriate planning arrangements to increase the planning ratio of KG sites, so as to tackle problems encountered in the provision of free KG education. Also, the Vice-chairman said he had two children, one was about to enter Primary 5 and the other Primary 3. He said that textbooks were very expensive, with the expenses on textbooks per year for each student amounted to about $2,000. He did not support publishers using unique designs such as stickers which made the reuse of textbooks impossible, as it would result in wastage and a huge financial burden on families. He continued that e-learning was not very popular at present and students’ school bags were overweight. He asked if the EDB could alleviate the problem of overweight school bags through e-learning or other methods. Lastly, he supported the Government to step up promoting Belt and Road education to encourage students going global.

(k)

The Chairman said that in the Central and Western District, there was a school on Rutter Street in Central which was established in 1967 and had 51 years of history. He asked if the EDB had in place a mechanism to help schools established for more than 50 years to improve their learning environment. Since the school had been in existence for a long time, it would be difficult for it to develop in pace with the times. It was necessary to optimise the smaller classrooms in order to operate 24 classes. He also pointed out that 30% of the students of the school were children of foreign nationals with excellent academic results, but the school had inadequate space and was undergoing improvement works. He asked if the EDB could provide early assistance to similar schools so that they needed not carry out improvement works in haste. He also said that many schools in the Central and Western District had admitted non-Chinese speaking students and these schools were very popular among parents. He opined that the EDB should pay more attention to the needs of these schools. In addition, he said that the general public learned from news reports or in daily lives that the EDB was implementing e-textbooks, but students’ school bags were still overweight. He supported the adoption of paperless education materials and the use of tablets as far as possible. He considered that the essence of learning lay in students acquiring knowledge from the curriculum. Apart from being environmentally unfriendly with the excessive use of paper, overweight school bags was not conducive to the healthy development of students.

13. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan, Permanent Secretary for Education, responded to Members’ comments. She said that she would first respond to concerns relating to the Central and Western District before responding to questions on policy or the department’s operation. Regarding old school premises in the Central and Western District, she said that at present there were about 900 public sector schools in Hong Kong. Their premises were built in different periods in accordance with the standards at the time of construction, which covered various facilities and had been changing over the years. These premises, which were built in accordance with the past standards, might fail to meet the latest standards for school premises or cope with the present teaching needs. To fully address the issues of insufficient space and facilities of schools in the long run, it required reprovisioning, redevelopment or expansion of such schools to suitable vacant school premises or new school premises. As for in-situ redevelopment projects, schools in general needed to have a site area of at least 3 000 m² in order to make the redevelopment project technically feasible. Mrs YEUNG said that for in-situ redevelopment, as most area of the school premise could not be used during the works period, it was necessary to find alternative places and facilities for relocation of the school in advance. Given the constraints on land resources and that allocation of school places had to take into account students’ place of residence, the students concerned might need to attend schools in other districts. She said that the bureau would make arrangements whenever possible, but as there were only limited number of new school sites and vacant school premises, and they were distributed in different districts, progress might not be satisfactory. For schools with premises of small footprint, in-situ redevelopment would not be of much help. The bureau would assist these schools to relocate as far as possible. In response to the Chairman’s comment that there should be early planning to assist old schools, she said that apart from the School Improvement Programme implemented between 1994 and 2006, the bureau had also put in place other recurrent measures, including school premises maintenance and related works, reprovisioning and redevelopment programmes, to improve teaching and learning environment. She said that about $1.513 billion had been allocated in the Budget this year for school premises repair works, representing a significant increase by about 28% over 2017-18. As regards Site 3B in Sai Wan, Mrs YEUNG said that although the site was temporarily designated for school use, the overall development of the region was yet to be confirmed. Also, decontamination works had to be carried out on site. Hence, there was no development timetable for the time being. The bureau would maintain close contact with the Planning Department (PlanD) and other relevant departments. She added that whenever a new site was made available for school sponsoring bodies to apply, the bureau had to decide whether the site would be used for new school development or reprovisioning purpose. Once a reserved school site was confirmed to be required for allocation for school use, the EDB would normally invite eligible school sponsoring bodies in the territory to apply for the relevant school site through the School Allocation Exercises. Applicants were required to submit application forms and other documents as needed. Allocation of school premises was generally conducted on a competitive basis amongst the school sponsoring bodies. In assessing the applications for reprovisioning of schools, quality of education was the prime consideration of the School Allocation Committee (SAC) comprising official and non-official members. Each case would be assessed on its own merits. When assessing the applications, the SAC would give due consideration to each case before working out the recommendations for school allocation.

14. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB responded to comments on the peak of primary student population. Given the large number of Mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong six to 10 years ago, statistics showed that there would be a transient increase in the overall demand for Primary 1 places which would reach its peak in the 2018/19 school year. This was mainly a result of “DNR babies”, and because traditionally more babies were born in the Year of the Dragon (i.e. 2012) and those born in 2012 would reach the school age of six, which was considered appropriate for admission to Primary 1, by 2018. In the 2018/19 school year, the number of school-age population aged six was about 65 700, which was the highest on record. Following the implementation of the “zero delivery quota” for Mainland expectant mothers in 2013, the number of school-age population aged six was expected to drop to about 57 300 and 55 700 in the coming two years, and then rebound slightly and temporarily in the 2021/22 school year. As regards the Central and Western District, the number of school-age population aged six in the 2018/19 school year was about 3 500, and the number would gradually decline to 2 000-odd. As for tracking whether that batch of children given birth in Hong Kong by Mainland pregnant women would receive education in Hong Kong, Mrs YEUNG said there would be difficulties in doing so. The EDB had implemented various flexible measures in recent years, including temporarily allocating more students per Primary 1 class, and operating additional Primary 1 classes, to meet the transient increase in demand for Primary 1 places. With the drop of Primary 1 school-age population, these flexible measures would be withdrawn progressively and schools would return to the state before the increase in population of school-age Primary 1 students. Mrs YEUNG pointed out that at present, the number of Primary 1 places in the Central and Western District was inadequate to meet the needs of local students, and so school places had to be borrowed from the Southern District. However, there would be no need to borrow school places when student population dropped. Mrs YEUNG added that the Primary 1 students would enter Secondary 1 six years later, it was anticipated that the Secondary 1 student population would increase by then. Starting from the 2019/20 school year, the number of school-age population aged 12 would increase significantly. This trend would last for five to six years followed by a decline. The bureau had started negotiations last year with the industry for formulating direction and strategic framework to cope with the anticipated growth in demand for Secondary 1 places in the coming years. The bureau would continue to discuss with the industry. It was believed that flexible measures, such as a progressive increase in the number of students allocated per Secondary 1 class up to the level prior to the implementation of the "three-fold preservation policy", and increasing the number of Secondary 1 classes in individual districts where necessary, would similarly be adopted to meet the demand. She added that public sector secondary school places were planned on a territory-wide basis. Secondary school nets had a wider coverage. While it was anticipated that the number of students progressing to Secondary 1 would increase, secondary school places allocation would have less difficulties than that of primary school.

15. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB then responded on territory-wide educational issues. On KG education, she said that some Members had mentioned about the small number of whole-day or long whole-day KGs in the Central and Western District. However, there were in fact many KGs operating whole-day or long whole-day classes in the district. Except for a few, half-day KGs in the district did not charge school fees; whereas a majority of whole-day or long whole-day KGs did charge school fees. In this regard, the bureau was aware of the views of parents and the community, but she pointed out that existing evidence from researches and studies precluded drawing conclusions that whole-day programmes were more favourable to young children than half-day programmes. For children aged between three and six, half-day school education would allow relatively more family time for young children and was thus a more desirable mode. It was not a common practice internationally to provide free whole-day KG service for all children from three to six years of age. The bureau was aware that whole-day KGs could help unleash the potential of labour force. The Government provided additional subsidies for whole-day or long whole-day KG services on a co-payment basis between the Government and parents under the new kindergarten education scheme, where parents should bear part of the additional costs. However, compared to the previous education voucher system, the bureau considered that the said arrangement had greatly relieved the financial burden of parents. At present, most whole-day or long whole-day KGs collected school fees of $1,000 or below per month, representing a substantial reduction from the past levels. As for the nursery education service under the purview of the SWD, Mrs YEUNG said she would relay Members’ views to the Labour and Welfare Bureau.

16. Regarding primary and secondary education, including aspects like curriculum and learning structure, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB shared Members’ views that although the bureau had devoted a lot of resources to address problems, some problems indeed could not be solved by money alone. As for regular teachers, Mrs YEUNG said that resources would be provided to create additional permanent teaching posts to improve teaching staff resources to facilitate the implementation of various education initiatives. Also, more contract teachers would be converted into regular appointments to facilitate schools to establish a more stable teaching force and good working environment, so that teachers could do even better in teaching. In addition, on curriculum content, issues such as how to enhance career and life planning education and STEM education, etc. had gone beyond money. The bureau considered it necessary to conduct an in-depth study in this respect. In this connection, the Chief Executive had set up various task forces after her assumption of office last year, one of which was responsible for reviewing the primary and secondary curriculum arrangements. Chaired by a veteran former secondary school principal, this task force was tasked to study how the overall curriculum could cater for the needs of students of different learning abilities, and how the curriculum could tightly couple with public examinations and articulate to university or other post-secondary studies, as well as to explore issues such as whether students could have more opportunities or whether they could rejoin the education system after leaving it. Given the wide array of research areas, the task force was expected to operate for two years. A public consultation exercise on the preliminary recommendations put forward by the task force was expected to commence around early 2019, and Members’ views would be welcome.

17. In addition, regarding the issue on school subjects, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB stressed that the EDB’s work was related to education and the bureau had no intention to involve politics in its work. On textbook review, Mrs YEUNG considered that such review by the EDB was necessary, otherwise the general public would have concerns about the quality of textbooks and whether textbooks of varied quality would appear in the market. She indicated that the textbook review mechanism, including the practice of not making public the membership of Textbook Review Panels, was developed through a rigorous process. The whole system, having been reviewed by the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), involved a large review panel comprising academics, secondary school teachers and principals, etc. The bureau had set up one review panel for each subject, and a number of members would be drawn from each review panel to form a group to assess each textbook submitted for review. She explained that the reason for not making public the membership was to ensure that members would not be subject to any pressure and to reduce opportunities and incentives for corruption, so as to avoid affecting the impartiality of the reviews. She emphasised that such approach had been examined and was considered prudent by the EDB, publishers and the ICAC. Mrs YEUNG considered that textbooks reviewed by the EDB were available at bookstores. If there was problem with their content, members of the public would notice and could raise the issue to the bureau. In the past, the bureau had occasionally received comments from the public concerning certain undesirable textbook content. She encouraged those who concerned about the content of Chinese History and History textbooks to read carefully the content of relevant textbooks before making comments.

 

18. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB responded to a Member’s question concerning whether in teaching the etiquette relating to or meaning of the national anthem, the relevant history would also be taught. She said that instead of the teaching content required by the EDB, schools often adopted a school-based curriculum where school teachers would determine the teaching materials and methods. Mrs YEUNG cited an example, saying that while key areas such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and shape and space in primary school Mathematics must be taught, schools could still plan and develop their own school-based curriculum according to the learning needs and abilities of students and school-specific circumstances.

19. On exchange programmes, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB clarified that the grant of $150,000 per annum provided to primary and secondary schools and special schools was to support local schools organising exchange activities with sister schools. As for other exchange activities, the Government organised Mainland exchange programmes to Humen in Dongguan or of other exchange routes. The bureau would provide a subsidy for students to join one Mainland exchange programme each in the primary and secondary stages. Mrs YEUNG said considering that primary and secondary school students were too young and travelling to faraway places would give rise to problems in looking after them, the bureau had not organised exchange tours other than those to the Mainland. However, if schools considered it manageable, the bureau would not oppose schools using their own resources to organise exchange activities other than those to the Mainland. She noted that some schools had done so with the assistance of parents. Regarding the Belt and Road exchange, the grant provided by the EDB was for students from universities and tertiary institutions. Apart from that, the bureau had also launched the Scheme for Subsidy on Exchange for Post-secondary Students to subsidise the participation of needy students in exchange activities outside Hong Kong. She said that when the scheme was first introduced, students would be given the same amount of subsidies regardless of where they went on exchanges. However, the bureau later became aware that some less well-off students wished to travel to more distant places for exchange and which would require more subsidy. It provided students from tertiary institutions with a grant capped at $60,000 under the Scheme for Subsidy on Exchange for Post-secondary Students to subsidise them to go on exchange to distant places. Mrs YEUNG said this showed that the bureau did provide subsidies to older students with better self-care ability for participating in exchange activities regardless whether their destinations of exchange were Belt and Road countries, places in the Mainland, or distant destinations outside Hong Kong. Regarding a Member’s enquiry as to whether visits to both well-developed or backward places would be arranged for exchange tours to the Mainland, Mrs YEUNG said that the routes and exchange courses designed under EDB’s curriculum mainly focused on history, such as visiting the Humen Bridge and the location where Lin Zexu destroyed opium which were closely related to the history of Hong Kong. Visits to places of cultural significance would also be arranged. The bureau did not assess the exchange routes based on the development level of the places concerned. Rather, it would consider their association with culture and history. As regards a Member’s concern that whether the EDB in organising exchange tours would encourage students to apply critical thinking skills, Mrs YEUNG said that the bureau was only responsible for designing exchange routes and the required service providers. Exchange tours were led by school teachers. The EDB would not assign representatives or invite representatives from other organisations to join the tours. Hence, it was mainly for teachers of the school to guide students to think and teach students to make judgments during the exchange visit.

20. Regarding EDB’s support to schools in adopting the e-class app mentioned by Mr YEUNG Hok-ming, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that there were various types of school-based items. Apart from salaries of teaching staff which were paid by the Salaries Grant, the EDB would provide a large sum of Operating Expenses Block Grant/Expanded Operating Expenses Block Grant (operating grant) to schools every year for funding various school-based items. If the grant was not used up, schools might retain up to 12 months’ provision under the operating grant. The EDB would claw back any amount in excess of the said cap. She said that as the vast majority of schools had not used up the grant, schools might use the surplus to cover fees for maintenance of the e-class app. The EDB had placed no special restrictions in this regard.

21. In response to a Member’s enquiry as to whether a review of the existing education system would be conducted, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that education reform had been implemented since 2000, including the introduction of the new senior secondary curriculum and school-based management. She opined that considerable time should be allowed for the steady implementation of the relevant initiatives before conducting a review. While major reforms on curriculum (including the new senior secondary curriculum) would not be carried out for now, the bureau had, as mentioned earlier, set up a task force to examine curriculum design. Meanwhile, other task forces had also been set up, including a task force to examine the implementation of school-based management so as to reduce schools’ administrative work, etc. The EDB had also set up the Task Force on Professional Development of Teachers to promote the culture of continuing professional development among the teaching profession, as well as accord due recognition to, and raise the professional status of teachers. The said task forces on School-based Management and on Professional Development of Teachers were launching consultation on their preliminary recommendations.

22. On support for the ethnic minorities, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that a difficulty faced by non-Chinese speaking students (notably ethnic minority students) was learning Chinese. For non-Chinese speaking students who regarded Hong Kong as their home and planned to stay in Hong Kong to pursue their studies and develop their careers, it was imperative for them to be proficient in Chinese so as to be competitive in respect of further studies and career pursuits. To strengthen education support for non-Chinese speaking students and facilitate their mastery of the Chinese language, the EDB, in consultation with teachers and language experts, had been implementing the "Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework" (Learning Framework) in primary and secondary schools since the 2014/15 school year. The Learning Framework, which was designed from the perspective of second language learners, aimed to help non-Chinese speaking students overcome the difficulties in learning Chinese as a second language, with a view to facilitating their bridging over to mainstream Chinese Language classes. The Learning Framework had been implemented for nearly four years. A research framework developed by the EDB based on the advice from research and language experts had been collecting and analysing relevant data. Regarding the Primary 3 TSA, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that this year TSA was conducted on a sampling basis. As there was a relatively small number of non-Chinese speaking students, they had a relatively high chance of being drawn. The bureau would like to draw reference from the performance of non-Chinese speaking students in TSA, etc. to evaluate their Chinese learning progress at different learning stages (including Primary 1 to 3, Primary 4 to 6 and Secondary 1 to 3), and enhance relevant measures as necessary, so that their biliterate and trilingual abilities could be raised to a level closer to that of Chinese speaking students and they would have better opportunities for development in Hong Kong in the future. Besides, the bureau had also provided various support to non-Chinese speaking students in other areas. Parents of some non-Chinese speaking students still tended to choose schools with more non-Chinese speaking students or with more subjects taught in English, which was not the most effective way for their children to integrate into society. As such, the EDB had implemented many relevant parent education initiatives. In addition, the EDB also provided Chinese language teachers professional training on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language to enhance their professional capability in teaching Chinese to non-Chinese speaking students.

23. In response to the Vice-chairman’s enquiry on how the education system could dovetail with the population policies and professional skill education, Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB said that the existing professional skill education curriculum was merely a change of name. The VPET mentioned in the presentation earlier was exactly the same thing as “vocational training” or “prevocational” education of the past. The reason for the change of name was that the EDB had conducted a review years ago and considered that fewer and fewer people had chosen “vocational training” or “prevocational” education as study pathways, which might be due to the poor image of such education curriculum. Hence, sectors took part in the review had proposed to change the name to VPET. Mrs YEUNG continued that after the review was completed, the bureau considered that the situation was still unsatisfactory. Manpower with specialised skills was insufficient and there might be further shortage in the future. In light of this, the Chief Executive had set up a task force early this year to review afresh how to improve VPET, where the Vocational Training Council had a high degree of participation. In addition to the review, the Government had launched the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/Sectors to subsidise students pursuing self-financing undergraduate programmes in selected disciplines to meet Hong Kong’s manpower needs. The Government understood that the Hong Kong market needed manpower with specialised skills, such as various types of technical personnel in the nursing and construction sectors. The tuition fees for self-financing programmes were in general slightly higher than that of the publicly-funded universities. Hence, the EDB subsidised students to pursue self-financing programmes in selected disciplines. Under most circumstances, the actual tuition fees paid by students would not exceed the tuition fees of publicly-funded universities. Mrs YEUNG stressed that such arrangement was aimed to closely align with the future directions and talent demand of our society. Mrs YEUNG continued that the bureau was reviewing whether there were other ways for improvement, among which was setting up a task force on parent education. This was because under the existing 12-year free education framework, the Secondary 1 to 6 education curriculum did not have a break and there was no public examination and screening. Many parents hoped that their children could gain admission to universities after completing Secondary 6, and associate degree programmes were regarded as second choice for secondary school graduates who could not be admitted to universities for articulation to degree programmes. Career-oriented curriculum courses would be of a lower preference or might even not be considered. However, students with strong interest in machines or design might not be suitable for studying history subjects or the very theoretical business administration subjects. The bureau thus would like to step up efforts in parent education in order to encourage parents to give space for their children to choose their own path, including pursuing VPET programmes.

24. Mrs YEUNG of the EDB shared a Member’s view that students’ textbooks were heavy. Regarding the development of e-textbooks, Mrs YEUNG said that the bureau would review new e-textbooks every year. Among which, primary e-textbooks accounted for a higher proportion, fewer for junior secondary e-textbooks and fewer still for senior secondary e-textbooks. This might be related to the complexity of the curriculum itself, as e-textbooks might not be suitable for complex content. The bureau had already regularised submission of e-textbooks for review. It was believed that more e-textbooks would be available in the market, hence giving more choices for schools, parents and students.

25. Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB responded on the planning for KGs. As currently required by the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG), the provision of KG places was 730 half-day and 250 whole-day places for every 1 000 children in the age group of three to under six. To meet society’s demand for whole-day places, the bureau was revising the HKPSG to provide 500 half-day and 500 whole-day places for every 1 000 children in the age group of three to under six. As for sites, Mrs YEUNG said that since KGs were diverse, some parents would choose for their children a KG in their neighbourhood having considered that travelling a long distance to and from KG was not suitable for children of young age. Others would arrange their children to attend KGs located in commercial buildings or public housing estates. When the Government developed a public housing estate, the EDB would continue to collaborate closely with the Housing Authority with a view to reserving space for KG uses taking into account the population of the housing estate and the supply and demand for KG places in the locality. Mrs YEUNG continued that after reviewing the facilities and floor area of KGs, the EDB had revised the Schedule of Accommodation, with an increase in the floor space of KGs and provision of additional facilities including multi-purpose rooms. The new Schedule of Accommodation would be adopted as far as possible in reserving space for KGs in new public housing estates.

26. The Chairman thanked Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan of the EDB for giving a detailed response and taking time out of her busy schedule to attend the meeting today and exchange views with Members. Further questions from Members, if any, could be submitted to the EDB in writing.

27. Mr YEUNG Hok-ming said that the demand for school sites was indeed strong in the district. He suggested that the C&WDC should write to the EDB urging the EDB to expeditiously submit the development schedule for the school site in Sai Wan.

28. The Chairman agreed that the C&WDC should write to the EDB relaying the keen demand for school sites in the Central and Western District. Learning that a site for development in Kennedy Town might be allocated for school uses, he hoped that the development schedule for the site could be released expeditiously.

29. The Chairman thanked the guests for attending the meeting and closed the discussion on this item.

Standing Items

Item 7(i): Progress Report on Urban Renewal Authority’s Projects in Central & Western District

(C&W DC Paper No. 70/2018)

(4:11 pm – 4:51 pm)

30. The Chairman welcomed representatives of the Urban Renewal Auhority (URA) and the Central and Western Concern Group (CWCG) to the meeting, and invited representatives of the URA to present the paper.

31. Mr Wilfred AU, Director (Planning and Design) of the URA, briefed Members on the progress of the Peel Street/Graham Street Redevelopment Scheme (H18). He said that excavation and piling works were currently being carried out within Site A. Engagement with hawkers in the vicinity of the site had been carried out with explanation on the piling operations provided. Pre-site inspection works was being carried out in the remaining portion of Site B. Site inspection by government departments was expected to commence around the third quarter of 2018. Public Open Space (POS) within Site B was expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2019 and would be open for public enjoyment. Depending on the progress of the inspection works, the URA would contact food shops with special local character (e.g. Dragon Restaurant, Sun King Kee Noodle), cloth traders in Western Market and dried seafood shops operating within the boundary of the Sung Hing Lane/Kwai Heung Street redevelopment project in order to introduce rental arrangements of the shops. Ground investigation works and protective measures for preservation elements within Site C were currently being prepared. Mr AU said that since handover of the site to the project joint venture partner, structural/civil engineers had been conducting regular on-site inspections and condition assessments of the façades at No. 26A, 26B and 26C Graham Street and the building at No. 120 Wellington Street that required preservation. In June 2018, concrete spalling was found on part of the roof of the building at No. 120 Wellington Street. The Buildings Department and the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) had been informed of the need to carry out urgent works (such as internal cleaning, strengthening of temporary frame, etc.). In addition to ensuring the structural safety condition of the building, the engineers would submit technical proposal and seek AMO’s advice on installation of temporary roof cover and other protective works. As it was the rainy and typhoon seasons now, the URA also hoped that the temporary roof works could be carried out expeditiously. The works would be carried out promptly upon approval of the technical proposal by the AMO.

32. Regarding the Staunton Street/Wing Lee Street Development Scheme Plan (H19 project), Mr AU said that the URA was liaising with the PlanD on the follow-up works for exiting the H19 project, which was expected to take some time for completion. He also said that the URA had some property interests in the project site, including the four buildings for residential purposes at Wa In Fong West. The URA would examine the structural safety of the buildings and feasibility of upgrading works for basic amenities (such as water and power supply) to see whether these buildings could continue to be used for residential purposes.

33. Regarding the Sung Hing Lane/Kwai Heung Street Redevelopment Project (C&W-005), Mr AU said that the URA had made acquisition offers to the domestic and non-domestic owners. The deadline for acceptance of the acquisition offer by owners was 13 July 2018. Besides, the URA would also gauge views of owner operators operating the dried seafood and associated businesses within the boundary of the project who were eligible for “Local Shop Arrangement” as to whether they were interested in joining the arrangement, which would allow them to come back to continue their dried seafood and associated businesses after completion of the project. Any update would be provided to Members at the next Council meeting. As regards Queen’s Road West/In Ku Lane Development Scheme (C&W-006), Mr AU of the URA said that the draft Development Scheme Plan (DSP) and relevant information had been submitted to the Town Planning Board (TPB). The TPB would consider the draft DSP and public comments before deciding whether the draft DSP was suitable for publication under the Town Planning Ordinance. After that, there would be a two-month consultation period, during which the public might make comment on the draft DSP to the TPB. After the draft DSP had been approved by the Chief Executive in Council and published in the Government Gazette, the URA would make acquisition offers. It was anticipated that the statutory process from gazetting the draft DSP by the TPB to obtaining approval would take about nine months.

34. As for the Central Market Revitalisation Project, Mr AU said that advance works were being carried out in accordance with the original plan. At present, excavation and site formation was being carried out in the rear court for construction of the structure of fire services water tank, electrical and mechanical facilities and plaza/open space. Concrete test and certain alteration and addition works for stall protection measures were being carried out inside the building. As regards the temporary toilet on Des Voeux Road Central, Mr AU said that further to a series of improvement works carried out in May 2018, beautification works for improving the general interior had been implemented. The appearance and smell inside the toilet had improved. The URA was planning to improve the toilet floor with anti-slip measures. He continued that the toilet was provided only on a temporary basis. With the opening of the toilet on the second floor some two years later, the temporary toilet on Des Voeux Road Central would cease operation for carrying out related works. He said that the advance works of the Central Market were expected to be completed by end 2018 or the first quarter of 2019. A tender exercise for major rehabilitation works would also be carried out in July 2018. There would be two phases of works. It was hoped that the first phase of works would be completed expeditiously for public use, including completion of the widening of some walkways on Queen Victoria Street. He said that the Council would be updated on the working programme when available. The whole revitalisation project was anticipated to be completed in 2021/22.

35. On H6 CONET, Mr AU of the URA briefed Members on the events hosted between May and July, including music performances, experience sharing, meetings and exhibitions. He said that the number of visitors had increased from 4 000-odd to 6 000-odd per day since opening. He also encouraged outside bodies to organise more performances for public participation to promote public involvement and interaction. Regarding the street beautification works adjacent to H6 CONET, the first phase of works underway covering Gilman's Street, Wing On Street, Tung Man Street and Hing Lung Street was expected to complete by 2018. He added that since the private owners of No. 39 to 41 Hing Lung Street had planned to redevelop their buildings, the URA was approaching the owners concerned and seeking the best solution to avoid damaging the beautified road sections during redevelopment. The URA would report to the C&WDC after discussing the actual arrangements and project timing with the relevant owners. The second phase of works covering Gilman's Bazaar and Tit Hong Lane was expected to complete by the first quarter of 2019. Mr AU reported on the progress of the provision of subsidy for upgrading hawker pitches. He said that the URA had obtained the written consent of application for subsidy from 13 hawkers. The URA and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department would continue to provide assistance to the hawkers who had applied for the hawker stall improvement proposals.

36. Mr AU said that the Lands Department was currently reviewing the application for tenancy extension of the Western Market to February 2020. The URA would introduce the preliminary rental arrangement for available commercial premises at Site B of the H18 project to the cloth traders in a timely manner.

37. The Chairman invited Ms Katty LAW, Convenor of the CWCG, to speak. Ms LAW said that concerning the H18 project, she noted that the progress of works at the three sites was different, particularly the site at Cochrane Street where the developer had already entered the site. Heavy machinery for soil test had been stationed at the vacant land on Cochrane Street and Gutzlaff Street. She expressed concern as to whether the relics within the boundary of H18 project could be properly protected. She hoped that the developer could inform the C&WDC on how to preserve the relics, such as Wing Woo Grocery Shop and old stone walls of residential buildings, and inform Members and the public about the conservation plan when available and give them chance to express their views. As for the H19 project, Ms LAW said recently there had been media reports that the URA was looking into abandoning the H19 redevelopment scheme proposal and the feasibility of renovating the acquired units for conversion into community housing or for use by non-profit-making bodies/social enterprises. Since the lot where the H19 project site was located overlapping with the historic “30 Houses” neighbourhood within Old Town Central, she hoped that in rehabilitating tenement buildings, the URA would also make efforts to conserve the tenement cluster in the “30 Houses” neighbourhood and cultural landscape in the form of a region. Ms LAW continued that the “30 Houses” was rich in history. For example, the young Dr SUN Yat-sen also lived in the 30 Houses (No. 2 Bridges Street) when he was studying in Hong Kong. The 30 Houses neighbourhood still organised the Central 30 Houses Yu Lan Festival at Staunton Street every year, which was a major annual event in Old Town Central. The area featured a great variety of post-war tenement buildings, including the only surviving two-storey tenement cluster built along a staircase (No. 2-10 Wa In Fong West) within Old Town Central. The tenement buildings at No. 88-90 Staunton Street adjacent to the Hong Kong News-Expo were built in the 1950s and owned then by Mr SHUM Wai-yau, founder of Wah Kiu Yat Po (華僑日報). Hence, she opined that the H19 project should not be regarded as a redevelopment project. She suggested that the URA should consider dropping its proposal of large-scale redevelopment at the project site, and should instead conserve the “30 Houses” and develop a “30 Houses historic neighbourhood” to completely preserve the diverse tenement buildings in the 30 Houses neighbourhood (i.e. H19). She also suggested improving the approach to Wing Lee Street and formulating a conservation management plan to provide conservation guidelines. She said that tenement buildings needed not all looked identical after renovation and should instead maintain individual characteristics, and the streets should be enlivened by enhancing the elements of everyday life and avoiding excessive management. She also suggested that some vacant sites within the boundary of H19 should be converted into POS under the theme of old town in line with its long history to create an outdoor community classroom for studying the region’s history. She stressed that community involvement should be brought into the project concerned to enable joint participation of residents and district organisations (including the District Council) in this conservation initiative, so as to bring the 30 Houses back to life and turn it into a historic neighbourhood with character within Old Town Central. She considered that this would be an ideal conservation plan to complement the PMQ and the soon-to-open Hong Kong News-Expo.

38. The Chairman invited views from Members.

(a)

Mr HUI Chi-fung said that for the H19 project, while the URA mentioned that it was liaising with the PlanD on the follow-up works for exiting the redevelopment scheme, he had never heard the URA saying that it would exit the redevelopment scheme in any official occasions. He hoped that the URA could officially announce its decision to abandon the H19 redevelopment project at the meeting. For H6 CONET, Mr HUI highly commended the URA for the proper management mode it adopted and appreciated that members of the public were free to linger and move around in this space. He hoped that the URA would also introduce this management mode to other public spaces. Regarding the Central Market, Mr HUI said it was mentioned in the paper submitted by the URA that the URA had employed a consultant for the detailed study on operational arrangement for the Central Market in response to the operational guidelines derived from the public engagement exercise. He hoped the URA could provide more directional information on the operational arrangement. He pointed out that although certain principles had be