New scholarships meant for students eyeing teaching, Eddie Ng says
HK$480m budget measure will favour people set to study English or early childhood learning
A new HK$480 million initiative to sponsor top students in their overseas studies is aimed at applicants with an eye to a teaching career, the education chief says.
Those who intended to read English or early childhood education would get priority in the selection, Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim said.
Ng was responding to criticism, including from University of Science and Technology president Professor Tony Chan Fan-cheong, that the new scholarships were too narrow in scope.
Candidates who picked subjects outside the government's priority areas might get a chance to clinch a scholarship, provided they planned to teach after they returned, Ng said yesterday.
"The scholarships target students who complete the Diploma of Secondary Education examination next year," he said. "They need to have outstanding academic achievements, and at the same time regard education as their lifelong career."
On Wednesday, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced in his 2013-14 budget that the Government Scholarship Fund would get a fresh injection of HK$480 million.