Many  measures are underway to alleviate the teacher surplus, Secretary for Education & Manpower Prof Arthur Li told legislators.

In a written reply to the Legislative Council today, Prof Li said, according to the information provided by schools at the end of April this year, there will be a surplus of about 470 primary-school teachers in the next school year.

Since secondary schools will see a net increase in teaching posts in the sector as a whole in the next school year, only a few surplus teachers exist in individual schools.

Prof Li said the bureau has already implemented measures to alleviate the teacher surplus, including:

* increasing the number of teaching posts;

* asking school sponsors to absorb or redeploy teachers among schools they sponsor;

* encouraging schools to employ suitable surplus teachers to fill teaching vacancies;

* providing grants for schools which can be used to employ teachers;

* encouraging job-sharing in schools;

* handling teachers' applications for no-pay leave with flexibility and implementing the Sabbatical Leave for Teacher Professional Development Scheme to create teaching vacancies;

*setting aside $700 million  for the implementation of early retirement schemes in primary schools and $520 for these schemes in secondary schools;

* releasing teaching vacancy information on the bureau's website to help teachers apply directly to the schools; and

* seconding suitable teachers to the bureau to create teaching vacancies to absorb surplus teachers.