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Amendment Bill to harmonise pre-primary services gazetted
An amendment Bill that aims to implement a scheme of measures to harmonise
pre-primary services for children aged zero to six starting from the 2005/06
school year was gazetted today (April 15).
The Child Care Services (Amendment) Bill 2005, to be introduced to the
Legislative Council on April 27, seeks to amend the relevant provisions in the
Child Care Services Ordinance (Cap 243) and its subsidiary Child Care Services
Regulations to provide the necessary legal framework for the implementation of
the proposed measures.
On the proposed changes in the Bill, a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and
Food Bureau said one of them was the amendment to the definition of child care
centres (CCCs) so that pre-primary services for children aged zero to three and
three to six would be governed and regulated by this Ordinance and the Education
Ordinance (Cap 279) respectively.
The amendment would help reduce the regulatory differences in pre-primary
services for the same age group of children, and clearly define pre-primary
services and enhance the effectiveness of regulatory work to avoid causing
confusion among parents.
Other key measures covered in the Bill include:
* The alignment of the staff-children ratio of day nurseries and kindergartens
that provide services to children aged three to six; and
* The alignment of physical and regulatory requirements imposed under this
Ordinance and the Education Ordinance, and the removal of the express exclusion
of registered kindergartens from registration under the Ordinance to facilitate
dual registration and the operation of kindergartens cum CCCs in the same
premises.
* The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) would later seek approval by the
Finance Committee of the Legislative Council for the alignment of financial
assistance schemes to both pre-primary services providers and parents.
"The harmonisation of pre-primary services will ensure pre-primary institutions
offer appropriate programmes to cater for the different needs of children at
different developmental stages, irrespective of the mode of operation or the
regulatory body."
"Besides, harmonisation will bring about better quality of services. Child care
centres providing pre-primary services to children aged three to six would be
able to receive better professional support from EMB, the single monitoring
authority for this age group upon harmonisation of service," the spokesman said.
Other aspect of pre-primary services, such as qualifications of qualified
kindergarten teachers (QKTs) and child care workers (CCWs), would be harmonised
in the process to enhance the quality of pre-primary services, the spokesman
said.
A joint office of the Social Welfare Department and the Education and Manpower
Bureau will also be established in phases under the EMB to handle registration
of KG-cum-CCCs and CCWs/QKTs, regulatory issues and the various assistance
schemes for pre-primary services providers and parents.
The joint office started operation on April 1. It will become fully functional
in September 2005.
The pre-primary services sector will be updated regularly on the progress of
implementation through briefing sessions and circulars. The most recent briefing
session was conducted on April 8. The next session will be organised in
mid-April and more would be organised before the full implementation of the
harmonisation of pre-primary services in the 2005/06 school year.
Ends/Friday, April 15, 2005
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