ENG-2015 — Page 168

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Education

The Hong Kong Teachers' Centre organises conferences, seminars, workshops and experience- sharing sessions to promote continuing professional development for teachers. Physical and mental health activities are also arranged to help teachers maintain work-life balance.

The Council on Professional Conduct in Education (CPC), a non-statutory body, advises the government on measures to promote professional conduct in education and on alleged misconduct cases involving educators that are lodged with the CPC.

Principals' Professional Development

To help principals enhance their leadership knowledge and skills, there are different professional development requirements for aspiring principals, newly appointed principals and serving principals to address their developmental needs at different career stages. Some 1,300 aspiring principals have attained the Certification for Principalship and about half of them have become principals.

School-based Support Services

School-based support services aim to foster leadership at schools, in particular at the middle managers' level, widen the dissemination of informed practices to improve learning, teaching and assessment strategies in the classroom, and support professional learning among teachers. In the 2014-15 school year, the bureau provided school-based support services, including those financed by the Education Development Fund, to 309 secondary schools, 372 primary schools, 42 special schools and 178 kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres.

The Regional Education Offices also offer school-based support services to schools in response to the needs of students, teachers, schools and other stakeholders they serve.

Student Finance

To ensure no student is denied access to education because of a lack of means, the Student Finance Office (SFO) of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency provides means-tested and non-means-tested financial assistance to students at various study levels. The SFO also administers a number of scholarship schemes.

Financial Assistance for Pre-primary Education

Eligible children may enjoy non-means-tested fee subsidies under the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme, and means-tested fee remission under the Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme. In the 2014-15 school year, fee subsidies and remission totalling $2.7 billion and $502 million were granted to about 133,300 and 37,800 students respectively.

Financial Assistance for Primary and Secondary Education

At the primary and secondary levels, means-tested assistance covers the cost of textbooks, travel subsidies, subsidies for internet access charges and examination fee remission. In the 2014-15 school year, $815 million was disbursed to around 226,000 students to cover the costs of essential textbooks and miscellaneous school-related expenses, $326 million to more than 152,400 students as travel subsidies, $161 million to around 154,500 families to subsidise internet access by students at home, and $42 million in examination fee remission for some

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