CLOSER ties between school and home will be enjoyed by another 50 schools, once the Education Department has processed applications for funds to set up parent-teacher associations.
The department's Committee on Home-School Co-operation, set up in February, aims at bringing schools and families together to promote children's education and improve school administration.
This year, the department will give the committee $5 million, part of which will be given to schools as grants to set up parent-teacher associations. A sum of $1.5 million will go to schools that come up with innovative ideas for improving co-operation between school and home.
The committee received 69 appeals for funding in the first round of applications that ended last month.
Of these, 50 were applications for the $1,000 funding per school to set up a parent-teacher association.
Ten schools asked for a sum of $5,000 or less to hold activities to promote co-operation between parents and teachers, while nine schools applied for sums ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 for long-term development projects.
At present, only 140 schools (less than 10 per cent of Hong Kong schools) have a parent-teacher association. Educationists say the small number reflects badly on Hong Kong education, pointing out that a large majority of parents had no say in their children's education.