The following is issued on behalf of the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee:
On the advice of the Quality Education Fund (QEF) Steering Committee, the Trustee of the QEF, the Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower Incorporated, has approved grants amounting to $143 million for 551 applications in the 8th call.
These approved applications include 229 made under the Fund’s designated themes “Learning and Teaching Effectiveness”, “Information Technology in Education”, “Research on Assessment for Learning” and “Promoting Collaboration in the Education Sector” and other education initiatives, and 322 on information technology (IT) infrastructure replacement/upgrading.
562 other IT infrastructure replacement/upgrading projects have also been approved in principle with grants to be disbursed in the 9th and 10th calls.
The grants approved range from about $20,000 to $4 million in this call. The overall success rate is about 62%, compared to 46% in the previous call.
Announcing the application results today (May 31), the Chairman of the QEF Steering Committee, Mr Tai Hay-lap, said, “Quite a number of applications aim at developing Liberal Studies curriculum for secondary school students under the new senior secondary school structure. Some applications help promote students’ national identity or instill positive values and attitudes in life. These reflect the education sector and the community’s support of Government’s education priorities through offers of bottom-up initiatives.”
Other innovative projects include a project on promoting biotechnology education in secondary schools, and a project on enhancing the knowledge of polar science. There is also a project on improving the learning and teaching effectiveness of cultural subjects through an IT platform with various edutainment modules, and one on improving basic literacy of deaf students through using Hong Kong sign language as the medium of instruction.
The QEF has also continued its staunch support for information technology in education by earmarking some $182 million in the next three school years for helping schools to upgrade or replace their out-dated computer equipment. The disbursement will be matched by funds to be raised by schools and that provided by the Education and Manpower Bureau for this purpose.
The QEF was established in 1998 with a capital of $5 billion to support community initiated projects that promote quality education in Hong Kong. Since its establishment, the Fund has supported 5,801 applications with grants amounting to over $3 billion.