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Education

seminars, sharing sessions and youth activities and film shows about civic education. The Gallery's videos and interactive games help visitors to experience and explore different aspects of civic education. Guided tours are provided and periodic exhibitions promote core civic values.

Commission on Youth

The Commission on Youth's main tasks include advising the government on youth development, initiating studies on youth, promoting youth development, enhancing communication between young people and the government, and providing young people with exchange opportunities in the Mainland and overseas, and internship opportunities in the Mainland.

To enhance communication between young people and the government, the commission. invites senior government officials and representatives from advisory bodies to attend 'Youth Exchange Sessions, so that they can communicate directly with young people and gather their views on relevant policy issues. The commission also organises a biennial 'Youth Summit' to provide a platform for principal officials to exchange views with youth participants. The next summit is planned for 2014.

To promote youth development, in 2013 the commission approved sponsorship under the Large-scale Youth Programme Funding Scheme for 19 large-scale youth programmes run by qualified organisations in Hong Kong.

In 2013, the commission sponsored 123 study tours to the Mainland under a scheme to enhance young people's awareness and understanding of their home country, strengthen their sense of national identity and foster exchanges with Mainland people. The commission also launched a new scheme sponsoring community organisations to provide young people with internships in the Mainland so as to strengthen their understanding of the Mainland employment market, work culture and development opportunities. During the year, youth delegates visited Ireland, Japan and Singapore under the International Youth Exchange Programme, designed to broaden young people's outlook and world perspective, and the commission played host to young people from these countries on reciprocal visits to Hong Kong.

In collaboration with the 18 District Youth Programme committees, the commission's Youth Programme Co-ordinating Committee (YPCC) provides a wide range of cultural, arts, sports and general development activities for children and young people aged between six and 29. The YPCC co-ordinates and organises territory-wide youth development activities, such as the 'Short Film Contest for the Youth, the 'Outstanding Youth Commendation Scheme' and the 'Outstanding Youth Activity Commendation Scheme: To tie in with the commission's core values on youth development, the Home Affairs Department also co-ordinates youth development activities among young people of different age groups at district level. In addition, 4,258 activities were organised in the summer of 2013 with sponsorship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

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