“The pupils don’t have to be living in subdivided flats, perhaps also those in public housing? We will consider all these,” he told a radio programme.

The scheme was well-funded after raising HK$140 million from the business and community sectors last year, Chan noted, and there was no concern about finding sufficient mentors to match a larger number of participants.

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Chan said that having invited two groups of pupils to his official residence, he had personally observed changes in the students as they gained exposure outside their confined social circles through the programme.

“They’ve become active in asking questions, showing that they have gained confidence,” he said. “This is what the scheme is designed to do. Their self-confidence should not be constrained due to their family circumstances.”

Chan said only about 20 students had dropped out of the programme before its start mainly because of schedule conflicts, adding that some businesses had pledged to offer internships to participants.

Beijing has stressed the concept of common prosperity, under which social mobility should be enhanced to give more people opportunities to attain wealth and shape a development environment for everyone.

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To support families in need, Chan said, the government also planned to launch the After School Care Service Pilot Scheme in partnership with select primary schools and NGOs in the new academic year.

He added children in low-income families could join for free to allow parents more time at work, which could both encourage childbirth and free up labour.

“The scheme has many benefits. Besides freeing up time for parents, we can also make use of those two or three hours every day to teach students something,” Chan said, suggesting topics such as career planning and financial management.

About HK$90 million has been set aside for the scheme to benefit 3,000 pupils in the one-year pilot. Chan suggested the goal was to expand the scheme across the city to benefit all needy families.

With the current administration set to mark its first anniversary next month, Chan said his first year as the city’s No 2 official had been filled with excitement because he had been able to focus on policymaking and delivering results, instead of dealing with the fallout of the anti-government protests in 2019.

Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organisation which works with the city’s underprivileged, welcomed the proposed extension of the mentorship scheme, noting that pupils living in public housing also needed urgent support.

But she said increasing the programme quota to cover more poor students remained key, suggesting the number of participants be raised to at least 50,000 annually, as the city was home to more than 200,000 children living in poverty.

“If the annual quota is not increased, even those most deprived are not entirely covered by the scheme,” Sze said.

She also urged the authorities to increase the amount of financial help for students in the programme and require mentors to commit more time to their pupils.

Additional reporting by Fiona Sun