The government plans to give a one-off cash injection of HK$200 million for schools to upgrade information technology in their classrooms.
The proposal was yesterday welcomed by educators, but they urged the government to allow the schools flexibility in how they spent the money.
In a consultation paper on utilising information technology, the Education Bureau proposed granting the money to about 1,000 government-owned or government-subsidised primary and secondary schools to purchase computers and other equipment.
Senior curriculum development officer Ching Kwok-chu said the money would be commensurate with the number of classes in each school.
"We estimate each class will get about HK$8,500," he said. "We will stick to this rule even if there are only two classes in a school. We won't set a minimum amount."
He expected schools would use up the money in about three years.
Edith Tse Lai-man, headmistress of the Jordan Road Government Primary School, said the grant would be "just barely enough".
"I hope the government will lift restrictions on how to spend the money," she said.
Ms Tse's school has 18 classes and would likely get a grant of HK$153,000 under the proposal.
Besides buying more computers and visualisers - electronic imaging tools for displaying 3-D objects, artwork, printed material or live subjects - Ms Tse said she hoped to use the money to hire another IT technician, which was not allowed under the proposal.
Li Chi-shing, IT teacher at Po Leung Kuk Chee Jing Yin Primary School, welcomed the plan, but also called on the government to let schools decide how to use the money.
Education Bureau principal assistant secretary Eddie Cheung Kwok-choi said the scheme would be made as flexible as possible and schools' suggestions would be considered.
Under the Composite Information Technology Grant, a secondary school with 25 to 30 classes can get HK$294,499 a year for IT expenses, while a whole-day primary school receives HK$279,366 a year.
The government also plans to spend HK$25 million to develop an online database of teaching materials organised according to the school curriculum.
Parents will also benefit, with the government proposing to spend HK$1 million commissioning NGOs to develop resources and programmes to raise parents' computer literacy. A HK$5 million grant will be given to maintain the ITeHelp hotline, which provides technical support for schools.
Mr Cheung said the government would also scrap the IT matching-fund scheme, which has long been criticised by educators who said it had widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
The dollar-for-dollar plan was introduced in 2004 to improve IT infrastructure in schools. Schools must raise donations, which the bureau matches.
The public can give feedback to the Education Bureau until November 28. The government will also hold five consultation sessions for school management committee members, school heads, teachers and parents next month. The plans are to be confirmed by next January.
2 comments:
This article sounds great. But just think further, $8500 for a class can have what else to do? Buy a desktop for each class? or just for buying new softwares?
But anyway it smell likes government concern about the needs of some schools in the problems of equitments. It's a good step of politics.
It is sometimes difficult from the government's perspective. If they spend a lot of money to buy hardware, they will become obsolete in two to three years' time. By that time, they have to spend the money all over again. However, if they choose not to spend, that will become an even bigger problem.
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