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Education

From 2019-20, all public-sector ordinary primary and secondary schools are provided with an additional SEN coordinator post and Learning Support Grant, with additional regular teaching posts offered as appropriate, to support integrated education. All public-sector ordinary schools also receive the School-based Educational Psychology Service, under which the ratio of educational psychologists to schools is 1:4 at schools with a comparatively large number of students with SEN. School-based speech therapist posts are created in public-sector schools by phases to implement the Enhanced School-based Speech Therapy Service. At the beginning of 2020-21, about 38 per cent of teachers in public-sector schools completed structured training programmes of 30 hours or more to help them cater for students with SEN.

The Endeavour Merit Award and Endeavour Scholarship recognise excellence in post-secondary students with SEN at publicly funded and self-financing institutions respectively.

Gifted Education

The government attaches great importance to supporting gifted students in developing their potential and continues to enhance learning opportunities both within and outside school to cater for their needs. Professional development programmes, together with learning and teaching resources, are designed to equip teachers with knowledge and skills in gifted education. School networks at both primary and secondary levels are organised to promote professional exchange among schools and teachers. Territory-wide competitions in different disciplines enable students to demonstrate their strengths and widen their horizons. Outstanding students thus identified are given further training and nominated to take part in international competitions.

The government-subvented Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education provides gifted students with out-of-school learning through courses, competitions, conferences, mentoring, online courses and advanced learning programmes. For parents of gifted children, it offers the Parent Education Programme, outreach, assessment and consultation.

The Gifted Education Fund, set up in 2016, had received a total injection of $1.6 billion from the bureau by end-2019 to support the academy and finance a wide variety of advanced learning programmes outside school for gifted students. Such programmes have been launched and will be continued.

Blended Learning

Under the Fourth Strategy on Information Technology in Education, all public-sector and DSS schools are now equipped with enhanced Wi-Fi infrastructure to facilitate the use of mobile computer devices for e-learning in schools and the implementation of the school-based Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. The bureau supports the schools to implement e-learning by providing professional development programmes for teachers, support services under the IT in Education Centre of Excellence Scheme, online resources and recurrent funding.

Through the Community Care Fund (CCF), in the 2018-19 school year the bureau implemented a three-year assistance programme to subsidise the purchase of mobile computer devices by primary and secondary students from low-income families studying in BYOD schools. With the

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