ENG-2007 — Page 206

158 Education

Non-means-tested Financial Assistance

Starting from the 2007-08 school year, non-means-tested fee subsidy under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme is provided to parents of eligible children receiving pre-primary education in kindergartens.

Non-means-tested loans, which are interest-bearing on a no-gain-no-loss basis. to the Government, are available to students pursuing eligible publicly funded or self- financing local award-bearing programmes and professional or continuing education courses provided in Hong Kong by registered schools, non-local universities and recognised training bodies. In the 2006-07 academic year, 23 979 people received loans amounting to $900 million.

Scholarships

SFAA administers a number of privately funded scholarships. Scholarships are mainly merit-based and provided for both local and overseas studies.

Tuition Fee Reimbursement for Project Yi Jin Students

The Government provides all Project Yi Jin students with a 30 per cent tuition fee reimbursement for each successfully completed module. For students who passed the means tests, the tuition fees paid are fully reimbursed.

Community Participation in Education

Home-school Cooperation

The Committee on Home-school Cooperation (CHSC) was set up in 1993 to promote positive attitudes towards home-school cooperation and to encourage the establishment of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs). Up to 2007, more than 1 300 PTAs had been established to foster home-school cooperation in a sustained way. In the 2007-08 school year, the EDB had funded the PTAs to organise about 2 550 school-based and district-based parent education activities.

School Business Partnership

In 2005, the EDB launched the Business-School Partnership Programme to lead students out of the classroom to gain a wider perspective of society and hands-on business learning experience. In 2007, more than 150 business firms participated in the programme, organising more than 260 activities, such as workplace visits, workshops on entrepreneurship, trade fairs, job shadowing and work attachment, benefiting more than 16 000 students.

Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education

The Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education was set up to advise on civic education and to implement activities in conjunction with the Government and parties concerned to promote civic education outside schools. In 2007, the committee concentrated its efforts on good citizenship, civic responsibilities, building an integrated and harmonious society, family cohesiveness, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and enhancing a sense of national identity and understanding of the Basic Law.