Govt Plans HK$48mn Aid To Boost Reading In Schools

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said on Tuesday that the government will revive a book subsidy for schools and substantially increase it, investing around HK$48 million a year from the next academic year onwards to promote reading.

Speaking ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, the Chief Executive said government-run primary schools will each receive an annual subsidy of HK$40,000, while secondary schools will get HK$70,000. Lam added that the government will consider how to further promote reading in kindergartens.

“It's not a sudden idea. If you look back at my manifesto and my Policy Address, I have promised that in Hong Kong, we should do more to promote the reading culture," she said.

"The benefits are multiple, I am a reader … because it will enrich my knowledge, it will inspire ideas and thinking and so on”, Lam said.

The Chief Executive added that the government has planned various activities to mark the upcoming World Book Day.

A subsidy to promote reading among students was halted in the 2016/17 school year by the previous administration. The Education Bureau and then Education Secretary Eddie Ng had said that the reading habits of children had changed with the widespread use of the internet.