Hong Kong Jockey Club donates HK$500m for city's youth
Five-year programme aims to help young people plan their futures, with 50 schools to benefit along with funded community teams
The Hong Kong Jockey Club will donate HK$500 million to fund a five-year programme that will help 200,000 young people plan their futures, it announced at a celebration of its 130th anniversary yesterday.
The career-planning scheme was announced ahead of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address on Wednesday, which is likely to feature more measures to help the young. Youth matters are high on the government's agenda after last year's Occupy Central blockades.
At a youth forum yesterday morning, Leung urged young Hongkongers to travel outside the city more - including to the mainland and Taiwan - to broaden their minds.
Jockey Club chairman Simon Ip Sik-on announced the youth scheme at yesterday's Sha Tin race meeting. "We feel that as our society changes, we should refocus our attention on changing community needs and we should respond accordingly," he said.
"The project will help [young people] discover their interests and abilities and educate them on life and career choices."
Educators welcomed the support of one of the world's biggest charity donors. But one lawmaker questioned whether focusing resources on young people's material needs would bear fruit, given that democracy was their real wish.
The programme, expected to start in September, will involve helping 50 schools with matters such as teacher training, career counselling, curriculum design and education for parents. The beneficiaries will include 10 schools for children with special educational needs.