ENG-2001 — Page 200

EDUCATION

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the Guides to Curriculum for Visually Handicapped, Hearing Impaired, Mentally Handicapped, Physically Handicapped and Maladjusted Children.

The Special Education Resource Centre has been operating since November 2000 as a support facility. The centre serves as a database for aggregation and dissemination of resources on special education. It is open to all special education personnel as well as the public for information searching and processing. In support of the development of information technology, the centre also provides a platform at its web site for sharing of ideas, experiences and teaching materials through a well designed and structured digital repository.

The Fung Hon Chu Gifted Education Centre continues to develop centre-based enrichment programmes for identified gifted students. It also provides training courses and seminars for teachers, school heads, professionals and parents of identified gifted students for promoting their awareness of gifted education services and understanding of these students' educational and emotional needs. To further promote gifted education, $10 million has been set aside in 2000-01 for this purpose. In 2001, some 30 multifarious enhancement programmes have been organised for 800 students from 230 secondary schools.

Information Technology in Education

To ensure that young people can grow up with the vision and capability to face challenges of the Information Age, the five-year strategy on information technology (IT) in education formulated in 1998 is now being implemented fully.

Its four key components are: to enhance students' access to IT and the Internet, to provide training and support for all teachers, to use IT to support teaching in the school curriculum, and to foster a community-wide culture which helps promote IT in education.

The implementation of various initiatives is making good progress. Site preparation works for the setting up of the network and installation of computers in all schools have been completed. Schools have been provided with cash grants to purchase IT equipment and to connect to the Internet in accordance with each school's plan. All schools already have the network and 70 per cent of the minimum required number of computers*. All 46 000 teachers have completed IT training at the Basic Level. A further 48 000 training places at the Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced Levels of competencies will be provided in the coming two years. Having regard to their specific training needs, schools may enrol teachers in training courses using the cash grants provided. Besides the four levels of IT training, the Education Department will continue to organise subject-based and skill-based IT in Education refresher training courses to further promote the use of IT in teaching and learning. About 200 primary and secondary school heads attended the IT in Education Leadership Programme for School Heads in July. The programme will continue in the coming school year. The Education Department and the Quality Education Fund have provided some 1 100 schools with additional manpower resources to co-ordinate the use of IT across the curriculum and to formulate and implement school-based IT plans. Furthermore, contract technical support service is provided to all public sector schools. Schools are given the options to choose either services provided by

*Note: on average, each primary school is equipped with 40 computers, and each secondary school with 82

computers.