Putonghua Summer Immersion Course Subsidy Scheme
The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) has just met to discuss the details of a Putonghua Summer Immersion Course Subsidy Scheme at its meeting today (16 December).
At the meeting, the Chairman of SCOLAR, Dr Daniel Tse Chi-wai announced, "In order to enhance the Putonghua proficiency of local teachers as well as their competence to teach Putonghua, we are going to subsidise 150 serving or potential Putonghua teachers to enroll in Putonghua summer immersion courses next summer. Qualified teachers will be given a subsidy equivalent to 50 per cent of the course fee, with the maximum not more than $5,000."
SCOLAR will invite all tertiary institutions and non-profit making educational organisations to organise four-week Putonghua immersion courses in collaboration with reputable universities in the Mainland which have experience in this area. SCOLAR has endorsed a $2.5 million budget for this three-year programme to support a total of 500 teachers.
Members also took note of the progress on the preparation for launching the Workplace English Campaign. "We are pleased to know that preparation work on the workplace English benchmarks, the funding scheme for workplace English training and the business and schools partnership programme is proceeding smoothly," said Dr Tse.
"We look forward to the launching ceremony and the series of PR activities, which I think will definitely heighten the awareness and concern of both employers and employees, as well as the public, on the importance of workplace English," Dr Tse added.