The Kwai Chung Technical Institute will conduct a series of workshops to explore its students' emotional quotient (EQ). The six-month project, EQ Workshop for the Psychological Development of Youths, is being funded by a $22,900 grant from the Quality Education Fund. It will be targeted at students aged 18 to 21 with the aim of enhancing their self-esteem and inter-personal skills, while teaching them how to control their emotions during difficult times. According to Michelle Leung Mei-han, a student counsellor at the institute who is in charge of the project, those who were taking vocational training courses were no different from their counterparts in normal schools. They, too, could be easily frustrated by problems related to their schoolwork and personality develop ment. 'The current education system has seriously neglected students' multiple intelligence . . . With child suicides and single-parent families on the increase, I believe EQ techniques can help youths learn how to control their emotions effectively and build up their confidence to deal with challenges ahead,' Ms Leung said. She said the money would be used to organise large-scale, creative ac tivities on EQ, apart from those associated with the formal curriculum. 'EQ is a hot issue in town. Though we [the institute] have provided training on the subject before, the funding will give us another channel to extend its scale by including more students in the camps.' The Quality Education Fund Steering Committee has given the green light for EQ workshops as one way of improving school management by boosting students' interest in learning. These projects, ranging from educational research to study camps, music and sporting activities, will cost the Government $206 million. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa announced the setting up of a $5 billion Quality Education Fund in his Policy Address last year.