SED's speech at education seminar in Malaysia - Education Reforms in Hong Kong in the 21st Century for a Globalised World (English only) (with photos)
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The following is the keynote speech by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, at the education seminar "Education Reforms in Hong Kong in the 21st Century for a Globalised World" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today (May 18):
Honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning and I welcome you all to this education seminar. It is my great pleasure to address a distinguished audience of academic and community leaders.
As most people would agree, Asia plays an increasingly important role in the international arena. We Asians are now presented with tremendous opportunities to strengthen ties among ourselves. Malaysia is the first stop of a series of our visits to Asian countries. I will be visiting a number of Asian neighbours later this week and later this year. I look forward to establishing closer collaboration with all of them.
This morning, I would like to share with you the latest developments in Hong Kong on the education front. We believe that through experience sharing, we can all learn from each other to thrive in the 21st century.
Commitment to education
Unlike Malaysia, Hong Kong is not endowed with rich natural resources. Human capital is our most important asset. It is with this belief that the Hong Kong Government has taken education as our top priority. For every four dollars we spend, one dollar is on education. This makes me the biggest spender within the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The education system of Hong Kong has served us well. We however must ensure that the system can stand the test of time. We recognise that we must proactively embrace a fundamental change to our education system - a change to cater for the needs in the modern world.
Globalisation as a driver of change
Globalisation has been bringing fundamental changes to many aspects of our life. International collaboration and rapid developments in information technology have removed barriers for trade, finance, transport and communication. The creation, updating and application of knowledge have become the key to the success of industries, organisations and individuals.
In the old days, people would count themselves fortunate to have an academic or professional qualification, and then pursue a long, long career for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, this is no longer a viable option. We are now in a knowledge-based society faced with the prospect of exposure to new frontiers of knowledge and changes to things around us at ever increasing speed and at much shorter intervals. In other words, all our knowledge has a limited shelf life. Information is abundant, and is invariably becoming more conflicting. Most of our problems often involve inter-locking issues that cut across different disciplines. Our younger generations will probably pursue different jobs throughout their career, and in areas which are yet unknown to us. For them to survive and thrive in this increasingly complex world, we must equip our youngsters with a broad knowledge base, an aptitude for life-long learning and the readiness to venture into new frontiers of knowledge whenever necessary.
Against this background, we have critically reviewed the mission and function of our education system. We believe that education in the 21st century should enable everyone to be in charge of their own life and chart their own destiny. To rise to the challenges, Hong Kong has set in motion an ambitious, but essential, review and reform of our education system at the turn of this century. Our goal is for all students to develop into balanced individuals who can contribute in meaningful ways to society, and who can draw on their own internal resources to continue to learn, apply their strengths and address their weaknesses.
The reform is comprehensive. It encompasses reforming the curricula, improving assessment practices, enhancing quality assurance, expanding access to post-secondary education, reviewing the public examinations and ultimately, introducing a new academic structure. We are now implementing the new curricula and new academic structure for senior secondary and higher education. I will give you an overview, and my colleagues will brief you in greater detail later on.
Curriculum reform at the basic education level
In Hong Kong, we provide 12 years of free education. Through basic education, we expect to enable every student to attain all-round development in the domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics. We also hope that our students will start developing a habit of lifelong learning, critical and exploratory thinking, innovating and adapting to change in their formative years.
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