The Professional Development Incentive Grant Scheme for Language Teachers will be launched to encourage serving Chinese and English language teachers to upgrade their qualifications.

The Language Fund has allocated $225 million to support the scheme which will accept applications from April 1.

Standing Committee on Language Education & Research Chairman Michael Tien said its long-term goal is to build a professional language teaching force in Hong Kong.

The scheme is an important step towards this goal. It will provide eligible serving teachers with grants to meet 50% of the tuition fee of relevant programmes of study, subject to a maximum of $30,000 per teacher.

Priority will be given to teachers who have neither a degree nor any teacher training in the language subject they teach.

For details, refer to the attachment and the Notes to Applicants and the Application Form posted on the committee's website.