HKAHSS’s Recommendations for the Chief Executive Policy Address 2026

The National 15^th Five-Year Plan positions Hong Kong as an international education hub and a gathering place for high-calibre talent, with emphasis on the integrated development of education, technology and talent. At the level of basic education, the HKSAR Government released the Blueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools in June 2026. The Blueprint sets out the vision of building Hong Kong into a world-class digital education hub by integrating Chinese and global educational wisdom, aligning with the national strategy of invigorating the country through science and education, adopting a student-centred approach, systematically advancing educational innovation, promoting paradigm shifts in learning, teaching and assessment, and nurturing innovative lifelong learners with both digital literacy and humanistic values.

The Blueprint is forward-looking, carefully planned and action-oriented. Its “Four Key Focuses and Ten Strategies” cover student development, teacher professional development, infrastructure enhancement and cross-sector collaboration. The school sector has responded positively to the Blueprint. To deepen the implementation of the national digital education strategy, advance the “Artificial Intelligence + Education” initiative, and promote profound changes in educational concepts, talent cultivation models, research paradigms and governance mechanisms, the HKAHSS recommends that:

1. The HKSAR Government should review the reduction in the Composite Information Technology Grant, establish a dedicated Digital Education Grant, or regularise and expand the “AI for Empowering Learning and Teaching” Funding Programme, so that schools may have stable recurrent funding and sufficient manpower to meet the daily expenditure required for digital education, even in times of fiscal constraint.
2. As the effectiveness of digital education policy depends on sustained resources and supporting measures, the HKSAR Government should make long-term funding arrangements in addition to the HK$2 billion set aside under the Quality Education Fund as start-up and transformation funding. The HKAHSS recommends the establishment of a long-term Digital Education Development Fund to ensure stability and continuity, while encouraging enterprises and non-governmental organisations to participate in sponsorship and resource sharing.
3. The scale of the Digital Education Centre of Excellence (CoE) under the Education Bureau should be expanded. In addition to increasing the number of seconded teachers, the HKSAR Government may consider engaging experts from local, Mainland and overseas tertiary institutions to enhance the quantity and quality of school-based support services and professional development programmes.
4. Beyond strengthening support for Hong Kong students to participate in international competitions, the HKSAR Government should make good use of Hong Kong’s unique advantage of being backed by the motherland and connected to the world, as well as the strong international standing of local universities, to develop Hong Kong-branded international competitions and short-term learning programmes in mathematics, science, innovation and technology, and artificial intelligence. These initiatives could attract outstanding students from around the world to Hong Kong, develop “study tours in Hong Kong”, further strengthen Hong Kong’s role as an education hub, and tell the good stories of Hong Kong.

The Circular of the State Council on the Issuing of the “15th Five-Year Plan for Educational Development” on 22 June 2026, under Section III “Strengthening Planning and Layout”, Sub-section (1) “Optimising the Forward-looking Layout of Educational Resources in Response to Changes in the School-age Population”, proposes to: “Establish and improve robust forecasting and early-warning mechanisms for the school-age population, and expand the supply of educational resources in urban areas experiencing net population inflows as well as areas with weaker foundations. Adapting to local conditions, we should strengthen the cross-phase adjustment of vacant school premises, reinforce the staffing establishment, overall allocation, and safeguarding of teaching and administrative staff in primary schools, secondary schools, and kindergartens, and promote the rational mobility and balanced redistribution of teaching staff to address surpluses and deficits. Furthermore, we should steadily advance small-class teaching in an orderly manner based on practical circumstances.”

Hong Kong is facing the challenges of a structural decline in the school-age population and an imbalance in the supply and demand of school places across districts.  The Association considers that innovative thinking is required to uphold the quality of basic education while minimising the adverse impact of class reduction and school closure on society, parents and students. In echoing the consultation document of Hong Kong’s First Five-Year Plan, which calls for the continuous enhancement of basic education and the strengthening of students’ literacy in languages, humanities, arts, sports, mathematics and science, STEAM and digital technology, as well as national education and values education, the HKAHSS recommends that:

1. The HKSAR Government should enhance the transition from primary to secondary education by introducing a five-year pilot scheme. During the pilot period, and subject to district-specific supply and demand, the number of Secondary One students per class could be flexibly reduced to 25, so as to better align with the small-class teaching arrangement commonly adopted in primary schools.
2. The HKSAR Government should commission universities to conduct empirical research on class size in secondary schools, inviting schools with different student intake profiles to participate. Long-term policy decisions should be informed by both local and international research findings, with a view to enhancing students’ learning effectiveness.
3. As quality teaching depends on quality teachers, the HKSAR Government should provide high-quality professional development to strengthen teachers’ capacity to design personalised learning plans. The decline in student population should be turned into an opportunity for teachers to implement innovative “Artificial Intelligence + Education” teaching initiatives and enhance learning and teaching effectiveness.
4. The HKSAR Government should strengthen forward planning by establishing a robust forecasting and early-warning mechanism for the school-age population, and should implement corresponding measures to balance the supply and demand of schools and school places across districts. These may include suspending current class expansion plans, flexibly lowering teacher-student ratios, and adjusting the threshold for class formation, so that educational resources can be used effectively to enhance overall education quality.
5. The HKSAR Government should make effective use of vacant or under-utilised school premises and suspend the establishment of new schools where appropriate, so as to improve the learning environment of secondary school campuses, address district-based imbalances in school places, and support schools with weaker foundations.
6. The HKSAR Government should study appropriate amendments to relevant ordinances and regulations, with a view to making better use of available school places and admitting non-local secondary students where suitable.
7. The existing medium-of-instruction requirements should be reviewed and made more flexible, allowing schools greater autonomy in determining language arrangements and exploring bilingual or multilingual teaching where appropriate. This would help meet the needs of multicultural and internationalised education, attract students from diverse linguistic backgrounds, enhance the global competitiveness of Hong Kong students, and further strengthen Hong Kong’s position as an international education hub.
8. The HKSAR Government should review the present university admission and Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) arrangements. The quantity and quality of university education are crucial to sustaining the development of basic education and Hong Kong’s future. While Hong Kong’s universities continue to rise in international rankings, the overall proportion of local students admitted through JUPAS has remained at around the thirty-percent level in recent years, which is lower than that of neighbouring cities or economies such as Singapore, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai. With the number of Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination candidates expected to continue increasing, the HKAHSS hopes that the number of local students admitted through JUPAS can remain stable and be increased in an orderly manner, so as to nurture local talent and strengthen the foundation of basic education.

國家「十五五」規劃將香港定位為「國際教育樞紐」與「國際高端人才集聚高地」，聚焦「教育、科技、人才」一體化發展。在基礎教育方面，特區政府在2026年6月公布《中小學數字教育發展藍圖》，願景是：「為奠定香港成為世界一流數字教育樞紐的基礎，我們透過融合中外教育智慧，對接『科教興國』戰略，以『學生為本』，系統地全面推進教育創新，促進學、教、評範式轉移，培育兼具數字素養與人文關懷精神的創新型終身學習者，為國家和社會的發展貢獻力量。」

《藍圖》高瞻遠矚，規劃慎密，真抓實幹，提出「四大重點‧十大策略」，內容涵蓋學生素養培育、教師專業發展、基建配套改善及跨界別協作等方面。學界對《藍圖》反應正面，在「深入實施國家教育數字化戰略，開展『人工智慧＋教育』行動，推動教育理念、培養模式、科研範式和治理機制深層次變革」^[1]，我們建議：

1. 特區政府重新檢討「資訊科技綜合津貼」的削資安排，或成立專項的「數字教育津貼」，或將「『智』啟學教」撥款計劃恆常化，並擴大津貼使用範圍，讓學校在特區政府財政緊絀時，仍有穩定的經常性撥款和足夠人力，以應付推展數字教育的日常開支。
2. 數字教育政策的最終成效，取決於後續的資源投入和配套支援。因此，在優質教育基金預留20億元作啟動與轉型資金外，特區政府宜作出長遠的資金安排。本會建議設立一個長期的「數字教育發展基金」，確保資金的持續性和穩定性，並鼓勵企業和非政府組織參與資助和資源共享，以減輕特區政府的財政壓力，確保香港成為「世界一流數字教育樞紐」。
3. 擴大教育局轄下的數字教育卓越中心 (Digital Education Centre of Excellence, CoE) 的規模，除增加借調教師人數外，考慮引入本地、國內及外地大專院校的專家學者，全面提升到校支援服務，以及專業課程的數量和質量。
4. 除加強支援香港學生參加國際比賽外，特區政府可善用香港「背靠祖國、聯通世界」和本地大學在國際前列排名的優勢，積極打造香港自家品牌的國際數理／創科／人工智能學界比賽或短期學習計劃，吸引世界各地的優秀學生到香港參賽，發展「遊學香港」，進一步提升香港教育樞紐的地位，說好香港故事。

2026年6月22日國務院關於印發《教育發展“十五五”規劃》的通知，在「三、加強規劃布局 (一)完善適應學齡人口變化的教育資源前瞻布局」提出：「建立健全學齡人口預測預警機制，擴大學齡人口淨流入城鎮和基礎薄弱地區教育資源供給。因地制宜加強閒置校舍跨學段調整，強化中小學校和幼兒園教職工編制、師資統籌配置和保障，推動師資合理流動和餘缺調配。結合實際有序推進小班化教學。」

香港在面對結構性學童人口下降、區域學位供求失衡的挑戰，我們需要採取「創新思維」，積極回應「香港首個五年規劃」的諮詢文件提出：「持續提升基礎教育質素，強化學生在語文、人文、體藝、數理、STEAM、數字科技等方面的素養，以及國民教育及價值觀教育的培養」，同時有效地減輕縮班和殺校對社會、家長和學童的負面影響。我們建議：

1. 優化「升中銜接」，特區政府可推出為期5年的「升中銜接先導計劃」。目前中學每班的標準人數是33至34人，小學的小班教學為 25人一班。在先導計劃推行期間，可按地區的供求實況，彈性地將中一每班人數降至25人，銜接升中。
2. 特區政府同步委託大學進行中學班級人數的實證研究，邀請不同收生組別的學校參加，結合本地與國際研究成果作出長遠政策決定，全面提升香港孩子的學習效能。
3. 「強教必先強師」，提供優質的教師專業培訓，以強化教師設計個人化學習計劃的能力，把握學童人口下降的機遇，讓教師實踐「人工智慧＋教育」創新教學計劃，提升學與教效能。
4. 加強未來規劃，建立健全學齡人口預測預警機制，實施相應措施以平衡現時各區學校和學額供求，包括：停止現時擴班計劃、彈性減低師生比例、下調學校開班人數門檻等，讓教育資源得以善用，提升整體教育質素。
5. 有效重置校舍及停止開辦新校，以改善中學校園學習環境，解決區域學位失衡及支援基礎薄弱學校。
6. 著手研究修訂相關條例，以善用學額，吸納非本地中學生。
7. 為現時的教學語言規定拆牆鬆綁，讓學校在決定教學語言安排有更大彈性，探索推行雙語或多語教學，以滿足多元文化和國際化的需求。這不僅有助於吸引來自多語背景的學生，也將提升香港學生的全球競爭力，為香港的國際教育樞紐地位增添助力。
8. 檢視現時大學收生及聯合招生制度。要好好延續基礎教育，大學教育的量與質對香港發展至為重要。香港各所大學的國際排名持續上升，質素毋庸置疑；惟經大學聯合招生辦法(JUPAS)取錄本地學生的整體比例，近年維持在百分之三十多，低於鄰近城市或國家，包括：新加坡、首爾、北京及上海等。若大學招收本地生的數字停濟不前，香港在培育「高智、高能、高技術」的人才將落後於鄰近城市。我們期望，在香港中學文憑考試人數持續上升的情況下，本地學生經大學聯合招生辦法(JUPAS)獲取錄的人數能維持穩定，並有序上調，以栽培香港人才，裝備未來，延續辦強辦優基礎教育。