1,000 more places to be offered to HK youngsters to train in care for elderly
Scheme to offer school leavers a career path and ease demand for places in old people's homes to get HK$140m boost, minister says
A scheme aimed at tackling the shortage of carers for the elderly while offering youngsters with modest academic results a career path in the industry is to be expanded, with 1,000 new places.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the HK$140 million move will eventually allow more people to spend their retired lives in their own residences, without having to wait for a subsidised place at a home for elderly people.
Cheung said the government had decided to add 1,000 extra places to the Navigation Scheme for Young Persons in Care Services, on top of the existing 200, because the pilot scheme had proved successful.
"It is usually said that young people do not want to work in homes for the elderly because it is a dirty and boring job, and that the working hours are long," Cheung told the South China Morning Post.
"I just want to prove this is a myth. We have a pilot scheme that has been running for more than a year. Because it is such a success, the financial secretary has agreed to give us about HK$140 million for 1,000 more places."
Enrolment is expected to start in the second half of this year, and the new quotas will run for several years.
Under the scheme, secondary school graduates aged 17 to 24 will be assigned to work as caregivers at homes for the elderly for 44 hours a week, with a monthly salary of about HK$9,000 in the first year, rising to around HK$10,000 in the second year.