Reply:
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Mr President,
(a)
(b)
The special grant for selected items of school-related expenses are payable under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme t school children (from pre-primary to upper secondary) attending institutions providing full-time education certified by the Drug withdrawal centres are not such Education Department. institutions. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not therefore have statistics on applications for such special grants from young drug abusers undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in these centres.
To rovide for the educational needs of young drug abusers undergoing treament/rehabilitation in confinement in these centres, the Education Department (ED) introduced the Educational Programme for Rehabilitating Young Drug Abusers (the Programme) in September 1995. The Programme provides education in the three basic subjects of Chinese, English and Mathematics, as well as training in some practical/technical skills.
In 1996-97, the Programme provided funding to 9 Christian agencies for running 21 units (each covering 10 youngsters aged 18 and below) totalling $5.01 million. The funding involved a block grant in the amount of $21,525 per unit per month (at 1996-97 level) and a one-off grant of $10,500 per location.
The block grant aims to cover the salary of the teacher as well as the costs for relevant educational materials such as books, reference materials and small equipment for use by teacher(s). The one-off grant is for the purchase of general classroom furniture and equipment and a television cum video recorder. A learning package for each centre can also be obtained from the ED free of charge.
The Programme should be able to address to a large extent the educational needs of the youngsters when they are in these centres. The ultimate objective is to reintegrate them into mainstream education as soon as possible.
In addition, these centres may propose and the ED will follow up on, suitable school placements for relevant youngsters.
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