Month: April 2025

LCQ11: Raising public’s Putonghua standard 
Question:
 
     There are views that with the integration of Hong Kong into the overall development of the country, raising the public’s Putonghua standard is of significance to enhancing their sense of national identity and patriotic education, and being conversant with Putonghua can help the public better understand the policies, culture and history of the country, thereby deepening their patriotic sentiments and sense of belonging. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the specific measures currently taken by the Government to raise the Putonghua standard of Hong Kong students, so as to enhance their sense of national identity and awareness of patriotism; whether it has plans to increase the proportion of school curriculum using Putonghua as the teaching medium;
 
(2) to facilitate the implementation of Putonghua education, whether it has provided targeted professional training to teachers to raise their standard of teaching in Putonghua; whether a dedicated training fund or scholarship has been established to support teachers to pursue further studies in Putonghua;
 
(3) whether it has policies or plans to raise civil servants’ Putonghua standard; whether it will include the Putonghua proficiency test as a criterion for the recruitment and promotion of civil servants; if so, of the specific arrangements; and
 
(4) whether it has conducted surveys on the implementation of Putonghua education in Hong Kong at present to assess its effectiveness; if so, of the assessment outcome for recent years; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Under the “one country, two systems”, Hong Kong’s policy on language education is to develop the biliterate and trilingual abilities of our students, enabling them to express themselves and communicate fluently in Putonghua, English and Cantonese. Putonghua is the standard Chinese language of our country. It is also a symbol of our nation. A good mastery of Putonghua not only enhances expression and communication but also facilitates integration into the overall development of the country, boosting national pride and confidence.
 
     Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Tang Fei is as follows:
 
(1), (2) and (4) The Education Bureau (EDB) has been actively promoting the teaching and learning of Putonghua, and adopting a multi-pronged strategy, which covers the aspects of curriculum, learning and teaching support, student activities and teachers’ professional development, to promote students’ learning of Putonghua within and beyond the classroom.
 
Curriculum
 
     Since 1998, Putonghua has officially been included as a core subject at the primary and junior secondary levels to ensure that all primary and secondary school students can master Putonghua. We will continue to review the curriculum, closely keep in view the grading standards and the testing outlines of the Putonghua Proficiency Test for secondary and primary school students (pilot version) promulgated by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and the State Language Commission (SLC), and make timely refinement to the curriculum of the Putonghua subject for primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, so as to align with the national standards and enhance the effectiveness of Putonghua learning and teaching.
 
Learning and teaching support
 
     To support the learning and teaching of Putonghua, the EDB has been developing diversified learning and teaching resources for reference and use by teachers and students. These include enhancing the content and the functions of the “Tong Da Xue Pu” self-learning website, producing resource materials such as a Glossary of Easily-mispronounced Terms, a game booklet on the Correct Pronunciation and Application of Putonghua and the “Voice and Expression: Learning Materials for Reading Aloud in Putonghua with Background Music for Primary and Secondary Schools”, as well as preparing school exemplars.
 
     Furthermore, the EDB provides school-based support services for primary and secondary schools, collaborating with teachers to enhance the learning and teaching of Putonghua in schools such as developing Pinyin teaching, encouraging students to read aloud, telling stories relating to classical Chinese poetry, and designing various Putonghua learning activities. The EDB also works under the Mainland-Hong Kong Teachers Exchange and Collaboration Programme to arrange for Mainland expert teachers to enhance teachers’ professional capacity in implementing Putonghua teaching through on-site collaboration, teacher networks, open lessons and teacher professional development activities.
 
     To further promote the effective use of Putonghua by students so as to boost their national pride and national confidence, the Chief Executive has also announced in his 2024 Policy Address that the EDB would earmark approximately $200 million in the Language Fund for providing a one-off grant to each public sector primary and secondary school in the 2024/25 school year. This grant aims to enrich the Putonghua language environment and enhance the atmosphere for learning Putonghua.
 
Multifarious activities and Mainland exchange
 
     The EDB has all along been encouraging schools to organise multifarious activities to give students more opportunities to use Putonghua on and off campus. The EDB also collaborates with schools, educational organisations and social organisations to regularly organise various kinds of Putonghua activities for students such as the Putonghua Public Speaking Competition for Primary and Secondary Schools. The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) makes use of the Language Fund to encourage and provide funding to different sectors of the community to conduct a variety of Putonghua activities, thereby creating a diversified Putonghua learning environment for students outside the classroom. Since the 2019/20 school year, a total grant of over $60 million has been approved by the SCOLAR to fund projects initiated by different organisations for the promotion of Putonghua, including interactive theatres, radio dramas, video production, quiz competitions, public speaking contests and community exploration activities, and the attendance of beneficiary students has exceeded 400 000. According to the feedback gathered by the organisers and the observations by the SCOLAR Secretariat, participating students were able to speak Putonghua with enthusiasm and they demonstrated good Putonghua proficiency in general. 
 
     In addition, by means of the Sister School Scheme and Mainland exchange and study tours, students are provided with opportunities to practise Putonghua, enrich their vocabulary and enhance their communication skills in an authentic environment through interacting and exchanging with their Mainland counterparts, touring different visiting spots and participating in relevant learning activities, etc.
 
Professional training and development of teachers
 
     The policy on Language Proficiency Requirement (LPR) has been implemented by the EDB since the 2000/01 school year. Under this policy, all teachers of the Putonghua subject holding a regular post in publicly-funded schools (Note) have to fulfil the language proficiency requirements. With the introduction of the enhanced LPR announced by the EDB recently, starting from the 2024/25 school year, all new or newly deployed teachers of the Putonghua subject holding a regular post should attain Grade A, Level 2 or above in the Test of Proficiency in Putonghua conducted by the SLC and obtain the attained result in the Classroom Language Assessment within the first year of taking up teaching the subject.
 
     To further encourage teachers to enhance their mastery of Putonghua, this year the EDB launches the Sponsorship Scheme for Teachers Taking the National Putonghua Proficiency Test, under which all serving and prospective teachers (including but not limited to teachers teaching Chinese Language and Putonghua subjects) employed in publicly-funded primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong will be fully sponsored by the Language Fund to take the Putonghua Proficiency Test once. The aim is to reinforce the atmosphere for using Putonghua in school.
 
     Other than these, the EDB provides in-service training on different themes for Putonghua teachers every year, which includes curriculum interpretation, teaching of listening and speaking, teaching of Pinyin, tackling learning difficulties, learning assessment and creating an environment conducive to language learning. These training courses aim to enhance the teaching quality and skills of in-service teachers with contents further expanded to include performing arts, pragmatics, as well as communication and application of Putonghua to enhance their linguistic competence. In addition, the EDB encourages teachers to enrol in the online programme on Capacity Building Relating to the Teaching and Promotion of Putonghua for Teachers of Primary and Secondary Schools in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao offered by the Ministry of Education. Literary and cultural study trips to the Mainland have also been organised for teachers to promote exchanges, broaden their horizon and enhance their teaching abilities.
 
     The EDB and the Department of Education of Guangdong Province co-organise the Advanced Course on Teaching of Putonghua every year to uplift the professional standards of Putonghua teachers through immersive training courses and lesson observation activities. So far, 612 Putonghua teachers have completed the course since its first launch in 1999.
 
Effectiveness evaluation
 
     The EDB has been using different channels such as curriculum development visits and inspections to understand the work of schools in uplifting students’ language proficiency (including the promotion of Putonghua education) and will make recommendations on improvement as necessary. Following the introduction of the enhanced School Development and Accountability framework in the 2022/23 school year, schools have to focus more on the seven learning goals (including language proficiency of students) in conducting the annual school self-evaluation (SSE). During the process, schools will collect the SSE information and data for integrative use to evaluate their effectiveness in related work. As observed from school inspections, schools would take into account their school-based circumstances and adopt diversified approaches to encourage students’ learning of Putonghua through application. For example, they would create a rich Putonghua learning environment within the schools and arrange students to participate in Putonghua-related activities held inside and outside their schools so as to increase students’ ability and interest in the use of Putonghua.
 
     According to the results of the 2021 Thematic Household Survey published by the Census and Statistics Department, 85.7 per cent of the responding students perceived their language competence in Putonghua for daily use as totally sufficient, sufficient or average. The percentage has been rising steadily over the past ten years.
 
     The EDB will continue to create more opportunities for teachers and students to practise Putonghua and enrich the Putonghua learning environment to enhance the Putonghua proficiency of teachers and students in Hong Kong.
 
(3) Having consulted the Civil Service Bureau, response to part (3) of the question is set out below:
 
     Chinese and English are both the official languages of Hong Kong. It is the Government’s policy to maintain a fully biliterate and trilingual civil service to ensure effective communication with the public in discharging their official duties.
 
     Heads of Department/Grade would, having regard to the job requirements of the grades under their purview, specify appropriate language proficiency requirements as part of the entry requirements of the grades concerned. In assessing whether candidates meet the Putonghua proficiency required by the grade concerned, the recruiting department/grade may, having regard to its operational needs, decide on the appropriate assessment method(s), such as requiring candidates to answer questions in Putonghua during selection interviews, or requiring candidates to attain specific results in designated Putonghua proficiency tests.
 
     While maintaining the standard of public services, the Government will from time to time review the language proficiency requirements of various civil service grades to ensure that they commensurate with the job requirements and allow people of different backgrounds to join the civil service. The Civil Service Bureau is also dedicated to strengthening Putonghua training through arranging courses and web resources for civil servants. The contents include Putonghua for conducting exchange at work, methods to learn and better communicate in Putonghua, with a view to enhancing the overall ability of the civil service in using Putonghua.
 
Note: These include all teachers of Putonghua holding a regular post in aided schools, as well as teachers of Putonghua in government schools, caput schools, Direct Subsidy Scheme schools and private primary/secondary day schools offering a formal curriculum who are comparable to teachers holding a regular post in aided schools.
Issued at HKT 14:35

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LCQ9: Students’ use of mobile phones in school 
Question:
 
It has been reported that, starting from this school year, middle schools in a number of districts in France have launched an experimental project to prohibit students from using mobile phones in school, requiring them to hand over their phones upon arrival at school. The objective of the project concerned is to reduce the use of mobile phones by students, so as to avoid affecting their physical and mental development. In addition, it is learnt that different states of the United States also have similar requirements. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it has grasped the existing rules and arrangements of primary and secondary schools across the territory in respect of students bringing mobile phones to school, e.g. allowing students to keep the mobile phones in their own custody after switching them off, having schools keep the mobile phones under their custody and store in lockers, or completely prohibiting the bringing of mobile phones;
 
(2) whether the authorities have provided guidelines to assist schools in drawing up a “code of conduct for bringing mobile phones” and setting out specific regulations and penalties, so as to ensure that students are not allowed to use mobile phones in school, thereby avoiding problems such as impeding the lesson progress and affecting the learning atmosphere and classroom order;
 
(3) whether it had, in the past three years, gained an understanding of the various problems arising from students bringing mobile phones to school, such as the pecuniary losses resulting from the loss of mobile phones; if so, how the schools addressed such problems; and
 
(4) whether the authorities will make reference to the practices in other regions and formulate measures or policies to regulate students’ use of mobile phones in school; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
In accordance with the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279), the management committee or incorporated management committee of a school shall be responsible for ensuring that the school is managed satisfactorily and the education of the pupils is promoted in a proper manner. For implementation, schools should lay down school rules to specify the basic requirements on the behaviour of students in the school, thus cultivating a safe, healthy and orderly learning environment for the students.
 
Our consolidated reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
 
The School Administration Guide issued by the Education Bureau (EDB) sets out clearly the general principles that schools may refer to when formulating and enforcing their school rules. Schools should collect and consider the views of teachers, parents and students when drawing up their school rules. Through discussion and communication, schools should help students apprehend the meaning of the school rules as well as reach a common understanding and consensus, and review the school rules periodically. Schools should enforce the school rules in a lawful, sensible and reasonable manner while ensuring fairness and consistency in application. Due regard should be paid to students’ dignity, individual differences and their rights to education. In this connection, when schools formulate rules in relation to students taking mobile phones to or using mobile phones at schools, they should make reference to the relevant guidelines and legislations and consider their own circumstances. While paying concern to students’ learning and classroom discipline, schools should also take into account the genuine needs of students and parents so as to make appropriate school-based arrangements. In addition, the EDB has suggested ways of handling students who play games on smartphones during lessons in the Case Study Kit on Managing Students’ Behavioural Problems for schools’ reference.
 
Furthermore, facing the challenges brought by emerging information and communication technologies, the EDB attaches importance to nurturing students’ information literacy and provides the “Information Literacy for Hong Kong Students” Learning Framework to strengthen the relevant information literacy learning elements in primary and secondary curricula, so as to foster students’ ability and attitude to use information and communication technology effectively and ethically in their learning and daily lives, so that they can use the Internet and electronic devices properly and healthily.
 
Formulation and enforcement of school rules fall within a school’s daily operation and internal affairs. It is in general handled directly and professionally by a school according to the school context. Schools are not required to submit details of day-to-day case handling (such as cases of individual students losing mobile phones at school) to the EDB. Hence, the EDB does not have the particular information.
 
The EDB has been maintaining close communication and exchanging views with school sponsoring bodies and the education sector regarding the professional aspects of school administration and management. The prevailing school-based approach to handle student mobile phone use at schools follows the principles outlined in the School Administration Guide. It effectively meets the operational needs of schools while also enables schools to follow the established school administrative framework for good school governance. The EDB will continue to support the operation of schools and will provide appropriate advice and assistance when necessary.
Issued at HKT 11:10

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LCQ4: Implementation of increased admission quota of non-local students 
Question:
 
     Regarding the implementation of the increased admission quota of non-local students, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it has provided specific guidelines to various funded universities, self-financing post-secondary institutions, and the Vocational Training Council and its member institutions (various institutions) explaining the meaning of the cap on non-local student admissions or the method of calculating it; if so, of the details;
 
(2) of the numbers of local students and non-local students in various institutions (including students of self-financing post-secondary institutions who come from the Mainland, Macao and Taiwan region) in the 2024/2025 school year, and the percentage of non-local students in local student places (including the percentage of relevant students of self-financing post-secondary institutions in the total number of students of the relevant programmes in the preceding school year), together with a breakdown by sub-degree, undergraduate degree, and postgraduate degree programmes (including Post-graduate Diploma in Education programmes); whether it will request various institutions to step up the publicity of the “Study in Hong Kong” brand, and urge them to actively meet the enrolment cap or target on non-local students; and
 
(3) of the total tuition income generated by the enrolment of non-local students for various institutions in the past three school years, and whether it has assessed the peripheral economic benefits brought about by such students; whether it will consider further increasing the admission quotas of various institutions (especially self-financing post-secondary institutions) to attract more outstanding students from outside Hong Kong to come here, thus providing a wider source of students to build Hong Kong into an “international hub for high-‍calibre talent”?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
(1) The Chief Executive announced in the 2023 Policy Address to build Hong Kong into an international post-secondary education hub, and announced that the enrolment ceilings for the non-local students of Government-funded post-secondary institutions would be doubled to 40 per cent from the 2024/25 academic year onwards. To this end, the University Grants Committee (UGC) Secretariat has promulgated clear guidelines on the definition and calculation of enrolment ceilings for the admission of non-local students for the institutions. The UGC has issued letter to universities, setting out in detail the principles and methods of calculating the enrolment ceilings and the exact figures of the enrolment ceilings for non-local students for taught programmes for each university, to facilitate the university’s planning on student admission. It is also clearly indicated that, the relevant ceilings are calculated having regard to the total number of local student places for all years of study at each study level. Redeployment of the ceilings among different study levels is not permitted. It is worth noting that all non-local students pursuing UGC-funded taught programmes do not receive public funding, and that the number of such non-local students is accounted for separately from local student places so as to ensure that study opportunities for local students will not be affected.
 
     As regards the self-financing post-secondary sector, save for students from the Mainland, Macao and Taiwan (MMT), there is no quota restriction on the admission of non-local students to full-time locally-accredited self-financing local sub-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Currently, for MMT students enrolling in full-time locally-accredited self-financing local sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) programmes, the calculation of quota should be not exceeding 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the total student enrolment in such programmes in the preceding academic year. There is no quota restriction for postgraduate programmes. So far, there are a total of six local self-financing institutions which have been approved by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to admit Mainland students to their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The Education Bureau (EDB) has all along been maintaining communication with self-financing post-secondary institutions on the admission of non-local students, facilitating their understanding and implementation of the relevant admission arrangements.
 
(2) Currently, the EDB is consolidating the relevant provisional figures for the 2024/25 academic year. Respective UGC-funded universities will submit, at the end of this year, the actual enrolment of non-local students in the 2024/25 academic year. Based on the UGC Secretariat’s preliminary understanding from the universities, the non-local student enrolment in UGC-funded undergraduate programmes in the current academic year has increased to more than 17 000, which is equivalent to about 23 per cent of the local student places. The Government is pleased to see that the funded universities have utilised the relaxed enrolment ceilings and successfully recruited more non-local students to pursue their studies in Hong Kong.
 
     In the 2023/24 academic year, about 64 200 non-local students enrolled in full-time locally-accredited publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary programmes. Among them, about 23 100 non-local students enrolled in the eight UGC-funded universities. These include about 14 800 students on undergraduate programmes coming from over 100 countries or regions, taking up over 200 different programmes, which is equivalent to 19.9 per cent of the local student places at that study level. Among these students, around 73 per cent are MMT students. A breakdown of the non-local students enrolling in UGC-funded programmes in the 2023/24 academic year is at Annex 1.
 
     Moreover, in the 2023/24 academic year, the numbers of local and non-local students of full-time locally-accredited local sub-degree and undergraduate programmes of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and self-financing post-secondary institutions as well as the relevant percentages are at Annex 2. The numbers of local and non-local students of research and taught postgraduate programmes are at Annex 3. 
 
     As a matter of fact, the Chief Executive announced in the 2024 Policy Address that the “Study in Hong Kong” brand will be promoted on a global scale, including to strive to host international education annual conferences and exhibitions, encouraging local post-secondary institutions to enhance collaboration and exchange with their counterparts around the world, and attracting more overseas students by offering scholarships and other incentives, especially those from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other Belt and Road countries, to study in our city. The initiative has received a positive response from the universities. The 40 per cent enrollment ceiling is an upper limit, not an indicator. In the course of expanding the scale of post-secondary education, we need to allow certain space and flexibility for the universities to set specific goals and pace in view of their capacity, and to proceed step by step while ensuring the teaching quality and adequacy of supporting facilities. This will enable the higher education sector to expand capacity and enhance quality in parallel, thereby building Hong Kong as an international post-secondary education hub.
 
(3) Under the principle of institutional autonomy, universities may set the tuition fee levels for non-local students as they see fit, having regard to their own circumstances; and ensure that, the relevant tuition fees should be at a level which is at least sufficient to recover all additional direct costs. The EDB does not maintain the data on the income from the tuition fees for non-local students.
 
     As a matter of fact, increasing the enrolment ceiling for non-local students aims to consolidate the competitive edge of the high degree of internaionalisation and diversity in the post-secondary education, so as to attract top talent from around the world, enhance institutions’ capacity in scientific research and teaching, and expand the talent pool for Hong Kong to foster the economic development of Hong Kong. Increasing the income from tuition fees is not the policy objective.
 
     To encourage non-local students to stay in Hong Kong for development and broaden Hong Kong’s talent pool, the Government has implemented the Immigration Arrangement for Non-local Graduates to allow non-local students to stay for 24 months after graduation to apply for work in Hong Kong. Over the past five years, an average of about 12 340 applications were approved. Moreover, it was further announced in the 2024 Policy Address that starting from this month, the Government would temporarily exempt full-time non-local undergraduate students from the restrictions on taking up part-time jobs with a view to enhancing their personal exposure to and knowledge of working in Hong Kong and incentivising them to stay in Hong Kong for development after graduation.
 
     President, the Government has all along been adopting a pragmatic approach in reviewing the non-local student enrolment ceiling in a timely manner, and considering the extent and timing of relaxation in the light of the policy objectives and actual circumstances such as the impact on teaching quality. As regards self-financing programmes, the EDB has all along been supporting the healthy development and continuous quality enhancement of the self-financing sector by providing support and strengthening regulation. We will continue to keep in view the track record of operation, the performance in student admission, and the utilisation of the prevailing quota, and maintain close liaison with MoE to explore feasible enhancements with a view to aligning the relevant admission quotas for non-local students of self-financing post-secondary institutions with those of the Government-funded sector in the long run. We will closely monitor the number of non-local students and collaborate with institutions to attract more students from around the world to study in Hong Kong, so as to strive towards the goal of building Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent.
Issued at HKT 16:12

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