8
Education
implementation of educational programmes with the assistance of the Permanent Secretary for Education.
Expenditure on Education
The total budgeted government expenditure on education in the 2016-17 financial year is $84 billion, making up 17.3 per cent of total government expenditure. Of this, $74.7 billion is recurrent expenditure on education, comprising 21.5 per cent of total recurrent government expenditure.
Education Commission
The Education Commission advises the government on education objectives and policies and coordinates 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.
The commission comprises a chairman, a vice-chairman who is the Permanent Secretary for Education, eight ex-officio members and a number of non-official members. The eight ex-officio members are the chairpersons of the Committee on Professional Development of Teachers and Principals, the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education, 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 UGC and the VTC. The non-official members come from both education and non-education fields.
Kindergarten Education
Pre-primary education is not compulsory and all kindergartens are privately run. The government runs a Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) to provide a non-means- tested direct fee subsidy for children aged two years and eight months above with the right of abode in Hong Kong attending eligible local non-profit-making kindergartens. The PEVS ensures quality education through a self-evaluation system supported by an external review. In 2016-17, about 184,400 children were enrolled in 1,014 kindergartens and kindergarten-cum- child care centres. About 76 per cent of students and 97 per cent of local non-profit-making kindergartens benefited from the scheme. A means-tested fee remission scheme is also available to low-income families to ensure no child is deprived of kindergarten education because of lack of means.
All kindergartens are required to employ qualified kindergarten teachers. Kindergartens under the PEVS must employ teachers with a Certificate in Early Childhood Education on a teacher to student ratio of 1:15. All newly appointed principals must have a bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education.
Starting from 2017-18, the government will implement a free quality kindergarten education policy and provide kindergartens with direct subsidy. The policy objectives are to provide quality and highly affordable kindergarten education, and to enhance students' access to different services that suit their specific needs.
124