ENG-2006 — Page 194

158 | Education

knowledge-based world. Under the new academic structure, all students will enjoy six years of secondary education as well as smoother and more varied post-school destinations and pathways.

University students will be provided with a four-year undergraduate programme that aligns Hong Kong with other major education systems in the world.

Curriculum Reform

Curriculum reforms are carried out to motivate students to learn, to improve their knowledge and abilities, and to develop positive values and attitudes for lifelong learning and whole-person development.

Information Technology in Education

The Government is committed to continuing the development of information technology (IT) as a tool as well as a subject to be taught in schools to better equip students to meet the challenges of the information age and to become lifelong learners. On average, every primary school had 119 computers and every secondary school 272 in 2006, all of which had broadband connections.

Since 2005, the Government has been providing schools with additional resources to improve their IT facilities, to set up e-learning platforms for students and to conduct seminars and workshops for their parents so that they can help their children to understand the ethical, legal and health issues related to the use of IT. In addition, over 10 000 needy students were provided with computers under a 'computer re-cycling. programme' launched by the EMB in December 2005.

The EMB is formulating a 'Third Strategy in IT in Education' to further entrench IT in learning and teaching.

Language Education

The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) was set up in 1996 on the recommendation of the Education Commission to advise the Government on language education issues in general. It also advises the trustee of the Language Fund on the policy and procedures governing the operation of the fund, which was set up in 1994 to provide financial support for initiatives to improve Hong Kong people's proficiency in Chinese, including Putonghua, and English. By the end of 2006, the fund had allocated about $2 billion to support 316 projects, in such areas as language learning, public education, resource development, teacher training and language education research.

Native-speaking English Teacher Scheme

The Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Scheme, launched in 1998, has been implemented in all public sector primary and secondary schools. Besides teaching, NETS help change teaching practices by working with local English teachers to make learning English more interesting for students. At present, about 430 NETs are serving in secondary schools, and some 460 in primary schools. More NETS are being recruited to support English teaching in primary schools.