ENG-2010 — Page 190

144 Education

Newly appointed kindergarten principals are required to have a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education with effect from the 2009-10 school year. Quality assurance for kindergartens is enhanced through a self-evaluation system, supported by an external review process.

The Government enables all school-aged children to have access to kindergarten education within a non-compulsory private-sector system by providing financial support for parents in meeting school fees, assisting with rents, rates and government rents for non-profit-making kindergartens, and reserving premises for kindergartens in public housing estates.

The Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, introduced in the 2007-08 school year, provides direct fee subsidy for parents and financial support for professional upgrading of serving kindergarten principals and teachers. About 83 per cent of students and 80 per cent of kindergartens benefit under the scheme. Eligible children aged above two years and eight months attending eligible local non-profit- making kindergartens can receive an annual fee subsidy of $14,000 in the 2010-11 school year and this will be increased progressively to $16,000 in the 2011-12 school year.

School Education

Twelve-year free education is provided to students in public sector schools with effect from the 2008-09 school year. Admissions to Primary 1 and Secondary 1 in public sector schools are administered through centralised systems. Under the NSS academic structure, Secondary 3 students will normally continue to receive senior secondary education in the same school or attend full-time vocational training courses run by the Vocational Training Council fully subvented by the Government.

In September 2010, a total of 275 340 children were enrolled in 462 public sector primary schools and 376 730 children in 402 public sector secondary schools. Public sector school places made up about 82 per cent of school places. In addition, there were 73 Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, offering about 7.8 per cent of the school places.

As of September 2010, there were 48 international schools, including 15 schools operated by the English Schools Foundation. These schools offer different non-local curricula, including the national curricula of the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore and others such as the International Baccalaureate programmes, providing about 36 100 school places.

Special Education

Students with severe learning difficulties and multiple disabilities are offered places in special schools for more intensive support. Other students with special educational needs are enrolled in ordinary schools. There were 60 special schools, 20 of which have boarding facilities. Together, they provided around 8 700 school places and 1 100 boarding places for students with severe special educational needs or multiple disabilities. In September 2010, some 25 640 students with special