CHAPTER 9
Education
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HONG KONG'S most important long-term social investment is education. The Government has been investing heavily in education and in nurturing talent for the future. In recent years, resources allocated to education have continued to rise significantly despite overall budgetary constraints. Approved government recurrent and total spending on education in the 2001-02 financial year amounted to $47.6 billion and $55.3 billion respectively, representing 23.4 per cent of the Government's total recurrent expenditure and 21.9 per cent of the total government expenditure. Tertiary education accounts for about 30 per cent of the education budget on recurrent spending. Total spending on education now represents 4.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
Hong Kong provides nine-year free and universal basic education. All students between the ages of six and 15 are entitled to free school places. In 2001, 95.4 per cent of the students who completed Secondary 3 received their senior secondary education or vocational training at substantially subsidised rates. Of the relevant age group, 17 per cent were enrolled in the first-year first-degree programmes funded by the University Grants Committee. About 1.30 million students, or 19 per cent of the total population, were in full-time education during the year.
Since October 2000, the Government has started to implement the education reform measures proposed by the Education Commission. The reform covers all stages of education from early childhood to continuing education. The overall objective of the reform is to enable students to have all-round development as well as the aptitude and ability for lifelong learning so that they can rise to the challenges of the new millennium.
The year 2001 also marked an important milestone in curriculum development. The holistic review of the school curriculum conducted in the context of the education reform and in line with the aims of education for the 21st century by the Curriculum Development Council was completed. A report which sets out the directions of curriculum development for the next 10 years has been published. An open and flexible curriculum framework which focuses on helping students learn how to learn has been developed and the Curriculum Development Institute is working with the school sector on phased implementation.
The Government continues to promote school-based management. Schools are given more flexibility in the use of resources and curriculum practices. After conducting extensive consultation on a more participatory and accountable school- based management framework, the Advisory Committee on School-based Management has made its recommendations to the Director of Education. The