Home-school Cooperation

Home-school cooperation is a vital element in promoting quality education. Thanks to the continued efforts of the Committee on Home-school Cooperation set up in 1993 on the recommendation of the Education Commission, by the end of the year, there were more than 1 400 Parent-Teacher Associations. Deepening home-school cooperation and supporting schools in promoting parent education continued to be the major tasks of the committee during 2005.

In June 2001, $50 million was set aside to strengthen parent education and to encourage parents to participate in educational affairs under the Parent Education Initiative. The committee has continued to promote parent education with a focus on the home-school interface since the $50 million Parent Education Initiative ended in 2004. About 2 500 school-based and district-based parent education activities on parenting and promoting the personal growth and learning of children with parents' support had been funded by year-end.

School Business Partnership

In 2005, the EMB launched the School-Business Partnership Programme to lead students out of the classroom to gain a wider perspective and prepare them for life in society. Through cooperation between schools and the business sector, the programme aims to help senior secondary students understand their own abilities and potential so they can plan for further studies and a career. Diversified activities in the form of workplace visits, workshops, job shadowing and work attachment are organised for students throughout the year.

The Young Entrepreneurs Development Council, a non-profit-making organisation, continues to organise the School-Company Partnership Programme under which 'ambassadors' from the participating companies work with their partner schools to introduce entrepreneurship to students at the early stage of career planning and provide them with an insight into the business world through career talks, entrepreneur workshops and business case studies. Junior Achievement Hong Kong, another non-profit making organisation, also runs a similar programme for senior secondary students. With the assistance of volunteers from the business sector, it organises trade fairs and workshops to provide students with a hands-on business learning experience.