The following is issued on behalf of the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee:
The fourth call for applications for grants from the Quality Education Fund (QEF) started today (October 30) and will close on December 30, 2000.
"Since its establishment in January 1998, the QEF has approved grants totalling $1,548 million for 2 744 projects. This is a good indication that the QEF's role as a resource for the promotion of quality school education in Hong Kong is now well accepted by the education sector as a whole," said Mr Irving Koo, Chairman of the QEF Steering Committee (QEFSC).
"For the fourth call for applications, two special categories of project grants have been introduced. They are grants for air-conditioning of classrooms and libraries at public sector schools and grants for procurement of notebook computers for loan to needy secondary school students," Mr Koo said.
"There are also four suggested themes which aim to provide pointers to the school sector in developing project proposals. The themes are developed on the basis of the experience in the first three calls, as well as the Education Commission's education reform," he added.
The suggested themes are:
* Improvement of the teaching and learning environment;
* Promotion of life-wide learning through collaboration with business and community sectors;
* Development of teachers' professionalism; and
* Acquisition of learning and thinking skills.
"Projects that are submitted by a cluster of schools, and projects which involve the participation or resource contribution of the business sector will receive favourable consideration. This is in keeping with the Education Commission's theme of community-wide motivation for education," Mr Koo said.
In keeping with the overall Government policy direction to minimize teachers' workload, the QEFSC has decided to put a cap on the number of applications a school applicant can submit -- maximum three excluding any applications for air-conditioning of schools and procurement of notebook computers for needy students. The progress reporting procedures will also be streamlined to reduce teachers' workload arising from QEF funded projects.
The application forms can be downloaded from the QEF website (www.info.gov.hk/qef). Alternatively, they can be obtained from the QEF Secretariat. The enquiry hotline is 2921 8833.
End/Monday, October 30, 2000