Policy Address

76.         For early childhood education, the Education Bureau (EDB) will enhance school-based support services for kindergartens admitting ethnic minority children.  The experience gained will be shared with other kindergartens.  As ethnic minority students are not native speakers of Chinese, the EDB will make special arrangements in the curriculum design and teaching mode of primary and secondary education.  From the 2014/15 school year, the Government will implement a Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework with supporting learning and teaching materials as well as assessment tools for ethnic minority students in primary and secondary schools.  Annual funding of approximately $200 million will be provided from the 2014/15 school year to enhance school support, such as an intensive teaching mode to improve the Chinese foundation of ethnic minority students at junior primary levels to facilitate their migration to the mainstream Chinese language classes.  The EDB will offer school-based professional support and in-service professional development programmes to enhance the professional capability of schools and teachers in teaching Chinese as a second language.

77.         From the 2014/15 school year, the EDB will, in stages, provide an Applied Learning (Chinese Language) subject for ethnic minority students at senior secondary levels.  The subject will be pegged at Levels 1 to 3 of the Qualifications Framework.  The EDB is also developing Vocational Chinese Language courses for ethnic minority school leavers to enhance their employability.

Contents | Next