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Education

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Life-wide Learning Fund, established by the bureau and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, supports eligible financially needy students to participate in life-wide learning activities organised or recognised by schools for whole-person development. It allocated $75 million to 937 schools in 2018-19, subsidising about 200,000 students.

The fund ended at the close of 2018-19 and a new Student Activities Support Grant was implemented from 2019-20 to continue the support for financially needy students.

Student Finance Office

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

Financial Assistance for Pre-primary Education

Eligible children may receive means-tested assistance, including fee remission under the Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme and an additional grant to defray their kindergarten-related expenses. In the school year of 2018-19, subsidies totalling around $408 million were granted to about 39,900 students.

Financial Assistance for Primary and Secondary Education

At primary and secondary levels, means-tested assistance covers textbooks, travel, internet access and examination fees. In the 2018-19 school year, around $829 million was disbursed to about 201,500 students to pay for essential textbooks and miscellaneous school-related expenses, $361 million to 143,200 students as travel subsidies and $159 million to 131,800 families to subsidise internet access by students at home. The government paid examination fees for eligible senior secondary students sitting public examinations in the 2018-19 school year as a one-off measure. The government also disburses school-based and district-based grants to support the whole-person development of needy students.

Financial Assistance for Post-secondary Education

Means-tested grants and low-interest loans are offered to eligible full-time students pursuing eligible courses at UGC-funded or publicly funded institutions. In the 2018-19 academic year, around $799 million of grants and $170 million of loans were provided to about 19,500 students. Eligible students pursuing full-time, locally accredited self-financing post-secondary programmes can also apply for similar assistance. In the 2018-19 academic year, around $795 million of grants and $144 million of loans were provided to around 16,200 students.

Non-means-tested loans operating on a no-gain-no-loss and full-cost-recovery basis are available to students pursuing eligible publicly funded or self-financing post-secondary programmes, and eligible professional or continuing education courses. In the 2018-19 academic year, about 30,600 students received loans amounting to around $1,551 million.

Travel subsidies totalling around $112 million were provided to about 30,100 post-secondary students.

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