Donald Tsang Reiterates IT Education StrategyDonald Tsang, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, reiterated Saturday the five-year IT education strategy aimed to boost the development of information technology in Hong Kong."In 1998, we set out a five-year IT education strategy, and so far we have earmarked 3.2 billion HKD (410 million USD) for capital expenditure and 590 million HKD (75.6 million USD) for recurrent expenditure to implement the initiatives in stages," said Tsang at the prize presentation ceremony of the Web Design Competition. The target of the strategy is to, within five years, make all Hong Kong school children master the general application of IT and be equipped to become life-long learners with inquiring and creative minds, according to Tsang. He said IT is the blueprint of Hong Kong's future and the driving force for its economic growth and expansion. "It is important therefore that we nurture a technically savvy workforce to safeguard our economic future," he added. At the prize-presentation ceremony, a total of 43 young people, their mentors and their schools were awarded prizes. The 11 winning web-pages were selected from 375 entries submitted by 1,653 youngsters and 217 mentors. The Web Design competition was jointly organized by the Business and Services Promotion Unit of the Financial Secretary's Office and South China Morning Post between last December and this March to enhance public understanding of Hong Kong's service economy and promote the use of IT skills and language proficiencies among local young people. |
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