4. Youth & Education
4.1 Education
- Increase recurrent education expenditure to 5 billion/year, 3.6 billion of which has been allocated to various education initiatives this school year
- Make Chinese History a compulsory subject for junior secondary level in the 2018/19 school year
4.2 Child care centres
- Add 300 places in aided stand-alone child care centres in North District, Kwun Tong, Kwai Tsing, and Shatin from 2018-19
- Inject $400 million into the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, $200 million of which will be used for implementing after-school learning for about 130,000 grassroot children
4.3 Children with special educational needs
- Invest $460 million a year for Pre-school Rehabilitation Services, which caters for children with special education needs, ie. children suffering from autism, hyperactivity disorder, language disorder, or dyslexia
4.4 Youth participation in policymaking
- Increase the overall ratio of youth members (i.e. persons who are aged between 18 and 35) to 15% within the current‑term government
- The proposed Policy Innovation and Co‑ordination Unit will recruit 20 to 30 young people on a non‑civil service contract basis
- The Youth Development Commission will be chaired by the Chief Secretary and will be set up in the first half of 2018 to enhance policy co‑ordination within the government
- The Home Affairs Bureau will launch a “Youth Ambassadors” scheme
4.5 Space Sharing Scheme for Youth
- About 60,000 sq. feet of shared space for youth in revitalised industrial buildings and commercial buildings set to be rolled out in the first half of 2018