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Education
around 8,900 school places and 1,100 boarding places. In September 2015, some 39,470 students with SEN were studying in public-sector ordinary primary and secondary schools.
The government provides schools with additional resources, professional support and teacher training to help them cater for their students with SEN. The bureau's professional staff members visit schools regularly to advise on school policies and support measures to implement Integrated Education. Educational psychologists, audiologists and speech therapists conduct case assessment, and provide consultation and support services for schools.
The government is progressively extending the School-based Educational Psychology Service to cover all public-sector primary and secondary schools by the 2016-17 school year. As at September 2015, about 42 per cent and about 20 per cent of the teachers in public-sector primary and secondary schools respectively had completed structured training programmes to strengthen their capacity to cater for students with SEN. To enhance the support for ordinary schools to cater for students with SEN, the government increased the rates of the Learning Support Grant for public-sector primary and secondary schools by 30 per cent in the 2014-15 school year. The ceiling of the Learning Support Grant is about $1.5 million per school per annum. The grant rates and the ceiling of the Learning Support Grant for each school are adjusted annually according to the change in the Composite Consumer Price Index.
Since the 2013-14 school year, the Endeavour Merit Award and Endeavour Scholarship have recognised excellence in post-secondary students with SEN at publicly funded and self- financing institutions respectively.
The government helps gifted students develop their capabilities through various programmes and the bureau supports schools in designing and implementing gifted development programmes for students. Learning and teaching resource packs are disseminated to schools. and uploaded to the web. Professional development programmes and teachers' networks equip teachers with the necessary gifted education knowledge and skills. Various territory-wide competitions provide platforms for students to learn from one another and to demonstrate their areas of strength. Outstanding students thus identified are provided with further training and nominated to participate in international competitions.
The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education provides gifted students with a wide range of activities, including courses, workshops, competitions, conferences, mentoring and online learning. Professional development programmes are offered to teachers through thematic courses, outreach services, and the Biennial Gifted Education Conference co-organised with the bureau. Services for parents of gifted children include the Parent Education Programme, outreach and assessment and consultation.
Information Technology in Education
Building on past information technology in education (ITE) strategies and other e-learning initiatives, the government launched the Fourth Strategy on ITE in the 2015-16 school year. It includes the phased provision of wireless network services for all public-sector schools to
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