Hong Kong labour chief offers support for kids to get mothers back to work

Thousands of stay-at-home parents in Hong Kong's working-class families could be persuaded to rejoin the labour force every year with the launch of a massive scheme promising after-school care for their children.

The mentorship programme would go beyond helping pupils with homework and serving evening meals, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung revealed to the South China Morning Post yesterday, adding that the plan has been seeded with HK$400 million - half from government and half from big business.

"[Students] will be inspired by professionals from accounting firms, hospitals and retired officials, who will show them how to cope with life's challenges. They will be nurtured and have their language skills sharpened," Cheung said.

One of the donors is understood to be the Centum Charitas Foundation, set up by scions of the city's business heavyweights.

The workforce is projected to start shrinking in three years, from 3.71 million in 2018 to 3.52 million in 2031, and Cheung's initiative comes a fortnight after more measures to replenish the workforce were unveiled in the chief executive's policy address. These included quadrupling the number of subsidised all-day child-care places to 6,200.

Cheung, describing the fast-greying demographics of the city as a looming storm, said the scheme would be launched in September, offering "whole-person development opportunities" from 4pm to 9pm for primary and early-secondary school pupils.

The government plans to assign HK$600,000 for each chosen school and every year will target 10,000 less-privileged students recommended by teachers in districts like Sham Shui Po, Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai and Western.