ENG-2007 — Page 198

150 Education

With effect from the 2008-09 school year, senior secondary education will also be provided free. As regards admission to schools, admissions to Primary 1 and Secondary 1 in public sector schools are administered through centralised systems. Currently all Secondary 3 students who are willing and able to continue with their studies are given the opportunity to receive subsidised Secondary 4 education or vocational training, whereas about one-third of Secondary 5 leavers may further their studies in subsidised Secondary 6 and 7 school places. With the implementation of the NSS curriculum from the 2009-10 school year, in principle all students would be given the opportunities to complete six years of secondary education (three-year junior and three-year senior secondary education) in the same school.

In September 2007, a total of 332 800 children were enrolled in public sector primary schools and 415 900 children in public sector secondary schools. Public sector school places made up about 85 per cent of school places. In addition, there were 66 Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, offering about 6 per cent of the school places.

As at September, there were 53 international schools, including 15 schools run by the English Schools Foundation. These schools form an important part of Hong Kong's make-up as an international business centre and a vibrant cosmopolitan city. They offer different non-local curricula, including American, Australian, British, Canadian, French, German-Swiss, Japanese, Korean and Singaporean, and provide 35 100 school places. To facilitate the development of a vibrant international school sector, the Government is offering a number of 'greenfield' sites at nominal prices for new international schools to be built on them, or for expanding existing ones.

Special Education

Children with special educational needs (SEN) who can benefit from attending ordinary schools are given places in these schools with additional support and services. Schools are encouraged to adopt a whole-school approach to support children with SEN. In the 2007-08 school year, some 13 000 students with SEN were studying in public sector primary and secondary schools.

There were, during the same period, 60 special schools for students with severe SEN, or multiple disabilities. Nineteen of these have boarding facilities. Together, they provided around 8 400 school places and 1 000 boarding places for these children.

The Government also helps gifted students to develop their capabilities through different programmes. The Government has set up a thematic support network on gifted education consisting of 73 schools to facilitate sharing of experiences and

resources.

Project Yi Jin

There were around 8 700 full-time and part-time students joining the Government's Yi Jin programme in 2007-08. The programme was launched in 2000 to provide an alternative route to continuing education for secondary school leavers and adult learners. Successful completion of the programme earns the student a qualification comparable to five passes in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education.