Policy Address
Pro-child
31. To ensure the healthy development of every child, we have to put in place macro policies on education, healthcare and welfare while addressing the needs of children of different backgrounds.
32. In my last two Policy Addresses, I proposed measures to support children with special needs because early intervention with rehabilitation services is of particular importance to their subsequent integration into mainstream education. Following the regularisation of the On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services in October last year, we have increased the number of service places to 7 000 this month. We plan to further increase the number of service places by 1 000 each year over the next three school years to bring the total number to 10 000 to better meet the service needs of these children and give parents greater assurance, with a view to achieving “zero-waiting time” pledged in my first Policy Address. Moreover, we will implement a 20-month pilot scheme in kindergartens or kindergarten-cum-child care centres early next year, under which children with signs of special needs will be given early intervention services. We will strengthen the after-school care programme with a host of new measures, including adding 2 500 full fee-waiving places, relaxing application eligibility, increasing subsidy level, providing extra subsidy for children with special education needs, streamlining means-test procedures, etc. More than 5 700 students and their families are expected to benefit from these measures.
