150 | Education
The Government also continues to provide teachers with professional development training programmes to sharpen their IT pedagogical skills in adopting e-learning in schools.
Overall Education Landscape
Expenditure on Education
In the 2011-12 financial year, the approved estimate for recurrent government expenditure on education was $54.5 billion, which was 22.5 per cent of all recurrent government expenditure, while the total estimate for government expenditure on education was $68.7 billion, or 18.2 per cent of total government expenditure.
Education Commission
The Education Commission is responsible for advising the Government on education objectives and policies. It co-ordinates the work of all major education- related advisory bodies in the planning and development of education at all levels.
The commission also advises the Government on important implementation issues to ensure better co-ordination between policy formulation and implementation. The commission has a chairman, a vice-chairman who is the Permanent Secretary for Education, seven ex-officio members and a number of non-official members.
The seven ex-officio members comprise the chairmen of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications, the Curriculum Development Council, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Council, the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee, the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research, the University Grants Committee and the Vocational Training Council. The non-official members come from both education and non-education fields.
Kindergarten Education
All kindergartens are required to register under the Education Ordinance. Since 2004, all kindergartens have been required to employ qualified kindergarten teachers. The EDB aims to upgrade further the professional qualifications of kindergarten teachers to certificate level by the end of the 2011-12 school year. Newly appointed kindergarten principals are required to have a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education with effect from the 2009-10 school year. Quality assurance for kindergartens is enhanced through a self-evaluation system, supported by an external review process.
The Government enables all school-aged children to have access to kindergarten education within a non-compulsory private-sector system by providing financial support for parents in meeting school fees, assisting with rents, rates and government rents for non-profit-making kindergartens, and reserving premises for kindergartens in public housing estates.
In September 2011, about 157 400 children were enrolled in 946 Kindergartens/Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres. The Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, introduced in the 2007-08 school year, provides direct fee subsidy