HKSKH establishes Education Service Department to implement education policy

Publish Date: 11-May-2021

As a measure to actively carry out its mission in education in Hong Kong and Macau, the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (HKSKH) established the Education Service Department, which is legally known as the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Education Services Limited, to support and coordinate the three existing school sponsoring bodies, namely, The Anglican (Hong Kong) Secondary Schools Council Limited, The Anglican (Hong Kong) Primary Schools Council Limited and The Anglican (Hong Kong) Early Childhood Education Limited.

In an interview with Echo, Archbishop Andrew Chan explained the role of the Education Services Department. He stressed that the tasks of this new department are to coordinate the Church’s schools so that they can implement the education policy passed by the Fifth General Synod in 2020. Archbishop Chan hoped that the department would strengthen the communication and connection between kindergartens and primary schools on the one hand and between primary and secondary schools on the other hand so that they could complement each other as an integrated chain.

He also said that the Education Service Department would be the portal for all external enquiries about the Church’s overall education ministry on behalf of the Church.

The Education Service Department consists of the board of directors and an executive committee. The chair of the board of directors is Moses Cheng, chancellor of HKSKH, while the chief executive of the executive committee is Mr Peter Kwok, who is also the Church’s executive secretary for education.

In an interview with Echo, Mr Cheng said that the Education Service Department is tasked to help schools better utilize the resources available at every parish and social service unit in school development, teachers’ professional development and parents’ involvement. When schools require common services, such as accounting and financial services, school buses, textbooks, and extracurricular activities, the Education Service Department would be instrumental to achieve cost-effectiveness by helping them acquire these services collectively. The Education Service Department would also hold joint professional development day for teachers and principals of HKSKH secondary and primary schools and kindergartens not only as a social occasion to encourage them but also an event to provide the newest training resources for them.