Grant backs vocational study pioneer

A Kowloon Bay secondary school will become the first to offer a new vocational curriculum after receiving $1.6 million from the Quality Education Fund.

Hong Kong Weaving Mills Association Chu Shek Lun Secondary School will offer two extra-curricular programmes - fashion design and merchandising and automotive technology - this September, combining distance learning, face-to-face teaching and on-the-job training.

The programmes, for Form Four students, are pilots for the career-oriented curriculum (CoC) to be offered at senior secondary level from 2009. The courses, costing $3,000 to $4,000 over one year to 18 months, will be offered in addition to regular lessons and will be open to students from outside the school. They will comprise one afternoon on campus, three-hour workshops on Saturdays and e-lectures and e-tutorials during the week.

Students from East Kowloon and Hong Kong East will be able to watch lectures broadcast in real-time from partnered institutions in Shanghai, Zhuhai and Guangzhou from their home computers. Regular e-tutorials and e-talks will be conducted by overseas guest speakers and the sessions will be open to the public and stored online at www.hkwmacsl.edu.hk.

Students will also participate in hands-on training at the school's automotive workshops and gain experience in the workplace.

The resulting qualification will be equivalent to one HKCEE.

Principal Jonathan Lai Ping-wah said: 'Students will have more choices in their senior secondary years besides following the traditional academic path.

'These programmes will let them know about available vocational opportunities in the real world.'

Chu Shek Lun will become the third CoC provider in Hong Kong, next to the Caritas Institute for Further and Adult Education and the Institute of Vocational Education, but the first secondary school to offer the programme.

Mr Lai said his school planned to offer more CoC courses, including tourism. Use of existing facilities and teachers meant the fees were less than the $5,000 to $8,000 charged by others.