The Education Bureau strives to create an enabling environment for quality education and has taken steps in recent years to relieve teachers' workload, Secretary for Education Eddie Ng says.
In his reply to a lawmaker’s query on teacher manpower planning, Mr Ng said such initiatives include small-class teaching in primary schools and the reduction of students allocated to each Secondary One class.
The average student-teacher ratios of public-sector secondary and primary schools have been lowered from 18.0:1 and 18.4:1 in the 2005/06 school year to the estimated 13.8:1 and 14.2:1 in 2013/14 school year, a relatively high standard at the international level, he said.
The unit costs for subsidised places in aided secondary and primary schools have risen about 62% and 92%, up from $33,340 and $24,640 in the 2005-06 financial year to $54,170 and $47,320 in the 2013-14 financial year.
Student-teacher ratios will fall further when small-class teaching initiatives are gradually extended to higher-level classes.
Mr Ng noted that the bureau and the Education Commission will continue to monitor the situation to improve teacher manpower and resources.
