Public secondary schools in Hong Kong can provide foreign language courses for students in junior forms starting from the next academic year, with each receiving a government subsidy of HK$250,000 (US$32,000) covering two years of operations.
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The eight languages eligible for the subsidy are Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish and Urdu. Schools must not charge students any fees for taking the extra language courses under the pilot scheme, according to the Education Bureau on Wednesday.
The bureau said in a circular that schools could apply to offer the language courses before April 30, and institutions that were approved could receive HK$250,000 to hire external providers to give students in-person or online courses, as well as purchase learning and teaching materials, over a two-year period.
The scheme was supported by the Quality Education Fund.
“[The scheme is for] developing their learning interests and capabilities, as well as enriching their learning experiences and heightening their global competitiveness,” the bureau said.
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Details of the two-year pilot scheme came after Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu announced a measure in his policy address last October that aimed to encourage all public secondary schools to provide lower-year students the opportunity to learn other languages.
When considering which language option to offer students, schools should give priority to providing courses which were available as elective subjects at the senior forms, including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Urdu, the bureau said.