EDUCATION
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Textbook Assistance
The School Textbook Assistance Scheme provides cash grants, on a means-tested basis, to eligible Primary 1 to Secondary 7 students in public sector schools and local schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme for the purchase of essential textbooks and miscellaneous school-related expenses. In the 2000-01 school year, $426.5 million was disbursed to 349 085 students.
Fee Remission
Needy Secondary 4 to 7 students in public sector schools may have their tuition fees waived under the means-tested Senior Secondary Fee Remission Scheme. In the 2000-01 school year, 95 321 students were granted fee remissions amounting to $354.5 million. Secondary 5 and 7 students granted full fee remission are also eligible to apply respectively for remission of their examination fees for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. In the 2000-01 school year, 10 762 students were granted examination fee remissions amounting to $10.9 million.
Needy kindergarten pupils are eligible for tuition fee remission through the Kindergarten Fee Remission Scheme. From the 2001-02 school
year, the age criterion for kindergarten fee remission was relaxed to two years and eight months as at August 31 of the school year of admission to tie in with the Education Department's initiative to lower the minimum admission age for kindergarten. Assistance takes the form of 50 or 100 per cent of the weighted average of fees charged by non-profit- making kindergartens or the actual fee, whichever is the less. A further level of remission at 75 per cent, on top of the existing 50 per cent and 100 per cent remission levels, will be introduced with effect from the 2002-03 school year. In the 2000-01 school year, $372.5 million was granted to 65 032 kindergarten pupils.
Local Student Finance Scheme
The Local Student Finance Scheme provides grants and low-interest loans to needy full-time students pursuing eligible courses at UGC-funded institutions, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education of the VTC, the Prince Philip Dental Hospital and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The grant is intended to cover tuition fees, academic expenses and student union fees while the loan is to help students meet their living expenses. In the 2000-01 academic year, $832.3 million in grants and $606.2 million in loans were provided to 33 347 needy students.
Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students
Introduced in the 2001-02 academic year, the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students is to provide grants or low interest loans to needy full-time local students aged 25 or below pursuing accredited, self-financing post-secondary programmes leading to a qualification at or above the levels of higher diploma, associate degree or professional diploma. Financial assistance, in the form of a grant or a loan, is intended to cover tuition fees.
Non-means Tested Loan Scheme
To further assist tertiary students, full-time and part-time students pursuing publicly funded programmes, students of the Open University of Hong Kong, full-time students of the Hong Kong Shue Yan College, students pursuing self-financing, local