Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

​Following is a question by the Hon Stanley Ng and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (July 23): 
 
Question:

The media earlier reported that some Hong Kong students had developed problems of different natures while participating in Mainland exchange tours (exchange tours), which has aroused public concerns about the quality of the exchange tours and may have an impact on the willingness of parents, teachers and students to go north for exchange. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the total number of primary and secondary schools that have been subsidised by the Education Bureau (EDB) and the number of primary and secondary students who have participated since the implementation of the Mainland exchange programmes for students; the effectiveness of the programmes;

(2) whether the EDB has provided various schools with the tendering criteria for selecting the service providers of exchange tours; if so, of the details; the review mechanism in place to examine areas such as health and accommodation safety of the exchange tours, and whether guidelines have been drawn up to specify the requirements for the capability of service providers to respond to incidents; and

(3) it is learnt that the EDB has pointed out that if the quality of the exchange tours was poor, the service providers concerned would not be invited to submit bid again by the authorities, whether the authorities have used the service providers’ records of the exchange tours as the selection criterion, and of the effectiveness of the relevant selection mechanism; whether the authorities have put in place a mechanism to regularly review and enhance the arrangements for the exchange tours (e.g. the itinerary arrangements and selection of itineraries for patriotic education); whether any service providers have been removed from the list of potential service providers for exchange tours by the EDB due to poor track record; if so, of the details?

Reply:

President,

Since the 2004/05 school year, the Education Bureau (EDB) has been providing students with Mainland exchange opportunities in line with the country’s latest developments and the school curriculum every year. This includes organising Mainland exchange programmes (MEPs) of different themes for students and subsidising schools to organise such programmes. Approximately 100 000 subsidised quotas are provided each year to ensure that every student has the opportunity to join at least one MEP each in their primary and secondary stages. The EDB has commissioned external organisations to provide services (e.g. transportation, meals, accommodation and exchange activities) for programmes such as the Mainland Exchange Programme for Junior Secondary and Upper Primary Students and the Mainland Exchange Programme for Secondary School Students, etc. To take better care of students and teachers, every tour will be accompanied by a licensed medical professional or a tour escort holding a valid first aid certificate. Schools may also apply for subsidies from the EDB under two programmes, namely the Junior Secondary and Upper Primary School Students Exchange Programme Subsidy Scheme: “Understanding Our Motherland” and the Senior Secondary School Students Exchange Programme Subvention Scheme, to design their own Mainland exchange activities according to school-based needs and students’ learning needs. MEPs for students align with learning elements of the curriculum and cover diversified learning themes, including history, culture, economics, science and technology. Through participation in the various programmes mentioned above, students can gain first-hand experience of the development of our country from multiple perspectives, and consolidate and deepen classroom learning. This will in turn enhance their understanding of the country and their sense of national identity. Mainland exchange activities for students have delivered remarkable learning outcomes since their launch. Furthermore, to tie in with the implementation of the senior secondary subject of Citizenship and Social Development (CS), the EDB has launched CS Mainland study tours since April 2023. As Mainland study tours form an integral part of the CS curriculum, all senior secondary students studying the local curriculum will receive a full subsidy once to participate in CS Mainland study tours organised by the EDB. After completing their CS Mainland study tours, students have to conduct project learning and submit a report to the school in the form of an individual project.

Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Stanley Ng is as follows:

(1) With student participation on a voluntary basis, MEPs for students have all along been well received by schools, parents and students. During the five school years (s.y.) from the 2014/15 to 2018/19 s.y., the number of primary and secondary student participants increased from approximately 50 000 to more than 70 000. With full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the EDB resumed MEPs for students in the 2023/24 s.y., and the responses from schools were positive, with around 68 000 students participating, which was comparable to its pre-pandemic level. The response in the 2024/25 s.y. is even more encouraging, with over 80 000 primary and secondary students already enrolled in MEPs for students, showing that the programmes are highly popular among schools. Schools will decide on the departure dates based on their school context and students’ learning needs. The numbers of students participating in MEPs from the 2022/23 to the 2024/25 s.y. are as follows:
 

+ Actual figures revised from last year’s estimates
++ Provisional figures (actual figures to be confirmed after departure)

In addition, following the launch of CS Mainland study tours since April 2023, the EDB has arranged for a cumulative total of more than 140 000 senior secondary students and 15 000 teachers to take part in the study tours in the past three school years (from the 2022/23 to 2024/25 s.y.). The EDB has continued to enhance the scale of and arrangements for CS Mainland study tours. With respect to the number of routes, there is an increase from 22 one-to-three-day tours in the Guangdong Province in the 2022/23 s.y. to 28 one-to-five-day tours in the 2024/25 s.y., covering 11 provinces and municipalities, so as to enable students to participate in various types of learning activities during CS Mainland study tours. Experiential learning activities are arranged in the activity bases for students’ comprehensive practice or other visiting spots as part of the itinerary. The numbers of students participating in CS Mainland study tours from the 2022/23 to 2024/25 s.y. are as follows:
 

+ Actual figures revised from last year’s estimates
++ Provisional figures (actual figures to be confirmed after departure)

In conclusion, it is without doubt that MEPs for primary and secondary students and CS Mainland study tours are beneficial to students. According to the results of questionnaire survey, feedback from teachers and students on these programmes are very positive. They generally consider that Mainland exchange and study tours have extended classroom learning and deepened students’ understanding of our country’s history, culture and technological development, etc, thereby instilling in them a sense of belonging to our country and enhancing their sense of national identity; facilitated friendship building through exchanges between local and Mainland students; and enhanced students’ understanding of the rapid development of our country to help them seize future development opportunities.  

(2) and (3) In selecting service providers for Mainland exchange and study tours, the EDB has all along been following the established government procedures of services procurement, with assessment and approval made under the principles of fairness, openness and impartiality. Service providers are required to have relevant experiences in organising Mainland exchange and study tours for students. During tender evaluation, the EDB will take into account both technical factors (including pro-innovation proposals) and price factors, and may not necessarily award contracts to the lowest bidders.

With the safety and health of students as the prime concern, the EDB has established a regular mechanism to safeguard the safety of students during Mainland exchange and study tours. For instance, the service providers are required by the EDB to formulate for its scrutiny contingency guidelines and arrangements for handling various emergency situations encountered in Mainland exchange and study tours, such as inclement weather, accidents, loss of identity documents and physical discomfort. Prior to departure of each tour, the service providers are required to communicate properly with the schools and arrange on-site briefings to go through the itinerary, points to note and ways to cope with emergencies, etc. Handbooks and name badges containing information about dealing with emergency incidents (e.g. emergency telephone numbers in the Mainland, and particulars and contact numbers of the accompanying staff) will be distributed to teachers and students for persual during the tour. The EDB has put in place a notification mechanism on the safety of students, through which the service providers are required to report on a daily basis the situation of each of the tours during the course of the journey. In addition, the EDB gauges participants’ feedback of these programmes by holding regular meetings with the service providers, deploying staff to attend the programmes to assess the appropriateness of the content and collecting views of the participants, conducting questionnaire surveys, and evaluating the opinions of the participants towards the programmes by arranging interviews and post-tour sharing sessions. Such efforts are conducive to the continuous enhancement and exploration of diverse themes for Mainland exchange and study tours. We will also regularly review the performance of the service providers concerned and monitor the progress and implementation of their work through field inspections and work reports, etc. Any cases of unsatisfactory performance of service providers will be handled by the EDB according to the established mechanism. According to existing records, no service provider has been removed from the list of potential service providers for exchange and study tours by the EDB due to poor track records.

Regarding the incidents in which students of individual schools had developed gastroenteritis symptoms during the Mainland exchange and study tours for students conducted earlier, we seriously and promptly followed up with relevant Mainland organisations/units to provide appropriate support for the schools concerned, including arranging for those students feeling sick to see a local doctor upon parental consent, reallocating rooms for them to prevent cross-infection, providing antiseptic products and arranging disinfection of the coaches. For the sake of safety, while the source of the outbreak could not be verified, we had immediately requested relevant service providers to stop patronising the suspected eatery, and required all those which offered catering service for MEPs for students and CS Mainland study tours to temporarily stop serving raw and undercooked food and cooked shellfish, etc. All the tours concerned had returned to Hong Kong after successful completion of their journey.

Meanwhile, we have promptly set up a dedicated task force for student Mainland study tours to enhance the arrangements for exchange and study activities in a timely manner. Efforts include directly liaising and arranging regular collaboration meetings with Mainland departments and units, with a view to improving various facilities and arrangements to further ensure students’ safety. We have also reached a consensus with service providers on strengthening the notification mechanism for unforeseen incidents. In the event of an incident, the service providers should get to know the situation as soon as possible, keep abreast of its developments, and provide appropriate assistance.  They have also been reminded that there should be more detailed planning and contingency measures for the itinerary, accommodation and catering arrangements, etc. The information presented and guidelines for the pre-departure on-site briefings have also been updated to enhance the hygiene and safety awareness of teachers and students. Moreover, we will maintain close liaison with the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health (DH) to update from time to time the latest information on disease prevention and control provided by the EDB and the DH on the “Passing on the Torch” National Education Activities Series website (www.passontorch.org.hk/en), and remind all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong to check out and get familiar with such information before setting off for the tours. To enable accompanying teachers to get hold of the latest information on exchange tours, the EDB will regularly organise briefings and sharing sessions to promote the good practices of different schools and provide illustrative examples on how to respond to emergencies for the schools’ reference.

On promoting patriotic education, it was mentioned in “The Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address” that starting from the 2024/25 s.y., at least 30 routes with “red resources” would be provided through the Mainland exchange and study tours for students. The EDB has made corresponding arrangements to incorporate relevant visiting spots, including historical sites, museums and thematic memorial halls, as well as learning activities, into 30 routes of MEPs and 11 routes of CS Mainland study tours respectively. To further strengthen patriotic education, and tie in with the launch of the Curriculum Framework of National Security Education in Hong Kong (2025) and mark the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance, starting from the 2025/26 s.y., the number of routes with “red resources” to be provided through MEPs and CS Mainland study tours for students will be increased to 33 and 15 respectively to facilitate students’ understanding of the revolutionary stories and arduous struggles of our revolutionary predecessors and foster their national spirit. The EDB will continue to gauge views from different stakeholders for reviewing the effectiveness of and enhance the arrangements for the Mainland exchange and study tours for students. The EDB will also keep in view the learning effectiveness of the Mainland exchange and study tours for students through school visits and inspections, collection of student work (including photographs, video clips and student reflections), interviews with teachers and students, etc, and will share students’ learning outcomes with the public.

The EDB has all along been actively organising for the benefit of students various kinds of Mainland exchange and study tours, which have gained general support and recognition from schools. The learning outcomes of students are also remarkable. We are looking forward to the continuous support from relevant stakeholders for the Mainland exchange and study tours for students. We will also adhere to our original aspiration and continue to enhance the quality of MEPs for students, and join hands with various stakeholders to achieve more fruitful outcomes. 

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