The Education Bureau announced today it has completed the review on the kindergarten education scheme, saying that adopting a mandatory salary scale for kindergarten teachers in isolation is not feasible.

It noted that during the review process, the kindergarten sector generally considered that the specific features of flexibility and diversity should be maintained and flexibility in the operation of kindergartens should be maintained so as to promptly respond to social changes and parents' needs.

Regarding teachers' salary arrangements, different options had been discussed with stakeholders in detail.

The bureau said the arrangement of a mandatory salary scale for kindergarten teachers pegged with government subsidies would mean similar practices as for aided primary and secondary schools.

It pointed out that this arrangement is tied with several interconnected components, including the bureau's annual approval for the number of operating classes and the staff establishment.

Currently, kindergartens are making use of the flexibility under the scheme to deploy resources to employ extra teachers and around 1,000 additional teachers are employed.

If a mandatory teacher salary scale is introduced and the number of operating classes and staff establishment have to be approved by the bureau, these teachers will become redundant. With a decline in enrolment, the problem of teacher redundancy will become more serious, the bureau noted.

Moreover, to ensure optimal use of public resources, when admitting students in the middle of a school term, kindergartens will be required to fill the vacant school places and this would affect their flexibility in admission and choices for parents will also be reduced.

As the mode of operation for kindergartens differs greatly from that of primary and secondary schools, adopting a mandatory salary scale for kindergarten teachers in isolation is not feasible.

The bureau will maintain the existing arrangement of providing salary ranges for teachers so that kindergartens can flexibly determine the teacher salaries to cater for their school situation. 

To support the sustainable development of kindergartens, the Government will seek funding approval to uplift the fee remission ceiling under the Kindergarten & Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme so that all parents receiving full fee remission do not need to pay the difference.

The bureau will report the review to LegCo's Panel on Education on September 3.