[Archive] Work of the Steering Committee on Parent Education

LEGCO QUESTION No. 12 (WRITTEN REPLY)

Date of Meeting: 14 February 2001

Asked by : Hon Cyd HO

Replied by : SEM

Question :

The Administration has set up a Steering Committee on Parent Education and provided it with $50 million for enhancing parent education. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the terms of reference and the membership list of the Committee, as well as the rationale for the appointments of the individual members;
how long the above amount of funding is expected to last; whether it has set any time limit on the exhaustion of the amount; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
whether it plans to turn the Committee into a standing committee and provide it with recurrent funding; if it has, of the long-term work plan of the Committee; if not, how it will ensure that those parents in need can have the necessary support after the funding has exhausted?

Reply:

Madam President,

a.	At present, parent education and home-school co-operation are provided through a variety of channels, including government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and recurrent resources are provided for this purpose. The provision of an additional capital sum of $50 million announced by the Chief Executive in his 2000 Policy Address is to further strengthen efforts in this area. A Steering Committee on Parent Education has been set up to formulate an overall strategy on parent education, to consider how the earmarked $50 million may best be used, to co-ordinate implementation by various parties, and to monitor progress. Detailed terms of reference are at Annex A. The membership list of the Steering Committee is at Annex B. It includes representatives from relevant departments/NGOs as well as key stakeholders, such as schools, tertiary institutions, parents, employers and community members. The wide and balanced membership should help the Committee carry out its tasks effectively.

b.	(b) The Steering Committee is now considering how best to use the earmarked capital sum of $50 million. Our plan is to seek funding approval from the Finance Committee by mid-2001. Since the provision is capital in nature, there is no specific time limit within which it must be exhausted. The preliminary thinking of the Steering Committee is to phase the expenditure over a period of two to three years.

c.	(c) The Steering Committee will remain in place until its tasks set out in (a) above are completed. At present, we have no intention of turning it into a standing committee with recurrent funding. That said, as mentioned in (a) above, various departments/NGOs have already been provided with recurrent funding for organising parent education and home-school co-operation programmes. This will ensure that parents, schools, and parent-teacher associations will continue to have the necessary support after the capital sum of $50 million has been exhausted.

Annex A

Terms of Reference of the Steering Committee on Parent Education

To devise an overall strategy to encourage a wider participation of the community in parent education.
To better co-ordinate the efforts of relevant government departments and non-governmental organisations on parent education.
To ensure effective deployment of the $50 million earmarked in the 2000 Policy Address, and to support parent education, encourage the participation of parents in educational affairs and produce reference materials featuring children's physical, psychological and intellectual development for parents and child care workers.
To monitor, review and evaluate the implementation of parent education initiatives.

Annex B

Membership List of the Steering Committee on Parent Education

Mr Matthew Cheung	Director of Education	Chairman
Mrs Patricia Chu	Deputy Director of Social Welfare	Representative of the Social Welfare Department
Mrs Agnes Allcock	Deputy Director of Home Affairs	Representative of the Home Affairs Department
Mrs Betty Ip	Assistant Director of Education	Representative of the Education Department
Mr Peter Leung	Assistant Director of Education	Representative of the Education Department
Miss Jenny Choi	Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower	Representative of the Education and Manpower Bureau
Dr Shirley Leung	Principal Medical and Health Officer, Department of Health	Representative of the Department of Health
Ms Annie Lo	Principal Social Worker, Hong Kong Family Welfare Society	Representative of non-governmental organisations
Ms Wendy Wu	Coordinator for Group and Community Service, the Salvation Army	Representative of non-governmental organisations
Mr Tik Chi-yuen	Chairman, Committee on Home-School Co-operation	Parent representative
Mr Leung Chung-wan	Advisor, Hong Kong East Parent Teacher Association Federation	Parent representative
Mr Fung Ho-keung	President, the University of Hong Kong Graduates Association	Parent representative
Mrs Julie Lee	Chairperson, Parent's Association of Pre-school Handicapped Children	Parent representative
Mr Stephen Hui	Chairman, Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council	School representative
Mr Fung Man-ching	Chairman, Hong Kong Subsidized Primary Schools Council	School representative
Mrs Laura Ling	Chairperson, Hong Kong Special Schools Council	School representative
Mrs Chan Ngai Yuk-ying	Committee Member, Union of Government Primary School Headmasters and Headmistresses	School representative
Mr Samuel Yung	Chairman, Outstanding Young Person's Association	Community member
Mr Michael Tien	Director, The G2000 Group	Employer representative
Dr Ho Sui-chu	Assistant Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong	Representative of tertiary institutions
Mrs Grace Wong	Senior Lecturer, Hong Kong Polytechnic University	epresentative of tertiary institutions