The government should provide HK$2,500 to HK$3,500 subsidies a month for kindergarten students to alleviate their parents' burden, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong revealed.

The party legislator Choy So-yuk said after a survey that a majority of the public thought early childhood education should be fully subsidized.

Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li, however, declined to comment on the speculation that the government would spend HK$1.5 billion for early childhood education.

But he said measures to improve early childhood education quality and to help parents would be announced after the policy address next Wednesday.

The DAB's survey revealed that 75.3 per cent of 954 respondents aged 16 or above thought government support for early childhood education was insufficient.

More than 85 per cent of them supported that early childhood education should be under government subsidies.

Nearly 40 per cent of them said the government should relax the requirement for child care centre fee remission scheme. And about 60 per cent of them said the public would be encouraged to have children if the government subsidizes early childhood education.

More than 71 per cent of the respondents also said the government had not adopted any measures encouraging people to have children, despite Chief Executive Donald Tsang's insistence that each family should have at least three children.

The government spent HK$1.28 billion on early childhood education in the 2005/06 financial year, about 2.7 per cent of the total education expenditure. Primary education accounts for 22.3 per cent of the expenditure.

Choy said the expenditure on early childhood education would be increased to HK$3 billion a year if the government provides HK$2,500 to HK$3,500 to students studying in non-profit making kindergartens.

"The government can give the money to the kindergartens. Then the kindergartens can use the money to improve teaching quality and lower tuition fees. This will encourage people to give birth and help tackling the aging population problem. The government should take a bigger role in early childhood education," she said.

The government was also criticized for tightening the criteria for the fee remission scheme as it required the parents of students to take full-time jobs, or one of the family members should be aged 70 or chronically ill.

The party also urged the SAR to improve the employment terms for kindergarten teachers, and increase resources on teacher training.

(HK Edition 10/05/2006 page2)