EDUCATION BUREAU CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM No. 190/2010
From : Permanent Secretary for Education To: Supervisors/Principals of Government, Aided and Caput Secondary Schools (excluding Special Schools)
Ref.: EDB(SD_CT)/ADM/145/5/02/1 Pt 3
Date: 26 November 2010
Further Measures for Facilitating Sustainable Development of Secondary Schools
Summary
The purpose of this circular memorandum is to inform Government, Aided and Caput secondary schools of the enhanced measures and revised application schedule for the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme (the Scheme).
Details
Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme
2. To facilitate sustainable development of secondary schools under the New Senior Secondary (NSS) academic structure, the Education Bureau (EDB) invited schools operating five or more Secondary One (S1) classes to consider optimising their class structure by means of class reduction on a voluntary basis in March this year. The arrangement for class reduction starts from S1 and extends to other levels progressively year by year.
Existing Measures
3. According to the existing measures under the Scheme, schools are allowed to retain their incumbent teachers on the approved teaching staff establishment in the school year preceding the commencement of S1 class reduction for five years, so that the schools concerned can better plan to adjust their staff strength through natural wastage and other means. During the five-year toleration period of surplus teachers, on top of the entitled Senior Secondary Curriculum Support Grant (SSCSG) that these schools will continue to receive, they are also provided with an additional cash provision (extra SSCSG) in the amount of $0.25 million per annum for appointing teachers, teaching assistants and / or procuring services to enhance the quality of education.
Enhanced Measures
4. To encourage more schools operating five or more S1 classes to join the Scheme, we will increase the flexibility of the Scheme and introduce enhanced measures. The details are as follows:
(a) Within the six years from the commencement of S1 class reduction, a school will be given a maximum quota of six teaching posts. During the six-year transitional period, the school may use the quota to absorb surplus teachers arising from the class reduction on a voluntary basis. If there are teachers leaving the school during that period, the school may use the quota flexibly to employ teachers to fill the vacancies, provided that the overall teaching staff establishment does not exceed the approved teaching staff establishment in the school year preceding the commencement of class reduction.
(b) The teaching posts in the quota are within the approved establishment and can be used for calculating the number of senior teacher posts and the ratio of graduate teachers in the school.
(c) After the six-year transitional period, the teaching post quota will be withdrawn gradually over three years at a rate of two posts per year.
(d) The surplus teachers arising from the reduction of classes may basically be absorbed by the six teaching post quota and through natural wastage. If there are surplus teachers arising from class reduction not being absorbed by the aforementioned arrangement, they will be tolerated provided that staff-related resources are first offset (please refer to paragraphs 5 and 6 below for details).
Generally, we expect that most schools can resolve their surplus teacher situation through natural wastage after deploying the quota of six teaching posts within nine years from the commencement of class reduction. However, if individual schools still have surplus teachers in the tenth year after the commencement of class reduction, the EDB will extend flexibly the toleration period of surplus teachers according to the actual needs of the school.
(e) In line with the existing measures provided under the Scheme, schools will be disbursed with an extra SSCSG provision in the amount of $0.25 million per annum for a total of five years. The designated disbursement period will be the first five years from the commencement of S1 class reduction (please refer to paragraphs 7 and 8 below for details).
Rectification and Offsetting of Resources
5. If the school still has surplus teachers after the enhancement of staff establishment (i.e. including the maximum quota of six teaching posts) and natural
wastage, these surplus teachers will be tolerated1. However, the school has to first offset the following staff-related resources (where appropriate) by the surplus teaching posts, in order of priority below:
(a) the fractional staff entitlement2; (b) the SSCSG3; and
(c) the provision of supply teachers4.
6. It should be noted that schools basically are not allowed to appoint new teachers before rectifying the surplus situation. If a school encounters the problem of subject mismatch or has teachers on prolonged leave for a period of 30 days or longer, it may submit an application for special approval to make temporary appointment(s) despite the surplus situation. Each case will be considered on its own merits by the EDB.
Revised Arrangements for the Extra SSCSG Provision
7. For aided and caput schools, the extra SSCSG provision will be disbursed in every September in the first five years after the commencement of S1 class reduction.
The balance could be carried forward to the next year until the end of the ninth school year from the commencement of class reduction; by then, any surplus of the extra SSCSG will be clawed back.
8. For government schools, the extra SSCSG provision in the amount of $0.25 million will be provided in the form of budget allocations by two installments in September and April respectively in the first five school years from the commencement
1 Surplus teachers at the basic ranks are allowed to proceed along their pay scales, while those at the promotional ranks are subject to the prevailing salary arrangements of over-ranked teachers. The toleration arrangement is not applicable to Government schools as surplus teacher situation, if any, will be resolved through internal redeployment.
2 For the calculation of staff entitlement under the NSS academic structure, schools may keep the decimal entitlement in the form of a fractional Graduate Master/Mistress (GM) post or opt to encash the fractional post. In schools with surplus teachers, the fractional post will be offset by the surplus teaching post(s).
3 The SSCSG is a cash provision equivalent to 0.1 teacher per NSS class calculated on the basis of mid-point salary of a GM teacher. The rate of this grant has been increased from a cash provision equivalent to 0.1 GM to 0.15 GM per NSS class during the period from 2008/09 to 2011/12 school years and will be reverted to 0.1 GM per NSS class after the 2011/12 school year. In schools with surplus teachers, the grant, excluding the extra $0.25 million cash provision, will be offset by the surplus teaching post(s).
4 After offsetting the fractional staff entitlement and SSCSG, if the school still has one or more surplus teachers, the corresponding number of supply teachers required for temporary replacement (substituting for teachers on leave for three or more consecutive days) will be offset. Such principle also applies to Teacher Relief Grant for IMC schools and equivalent grant for non-IMC schools in that the relevant provision for employing supply teachers will be offset accordingly. Subsidies may be provided to employ supply teachers if the number of teachers on leave for three or more consecutive days at the same time exceeds the number of surplus teachers.
of S1 class reduction. Separate allocation for unspent balance (if any) of the preceding financial year will be provided to government schools in the nine school years from the commencement of S1 class reduction. Unspent balance of the allocation as at the end of the ninth school year will lapse.
Eligible Schools
9. The enhanced measures for the Scheme are applicable to schools operating five or more S1 classes which start to reduce their S1 classes from the 2011/12 or 2012/13 school year on a voluntary basis. The enhanced measures are also applicable to the 23 schools which joined the Scheme in the 2010/11 school year. The EDB will, starting in the second year from the commencement of class reduction (i.e. the 2011/12 school year), provide these schools with a maximum quota of six teaching posts in the remaining five school years which will then be withdrawn gradually over three years at a rate of two posts per year.
Year of Implementation and Application Schedule
10. To achieve the intended result of the Scheme, we look forward to a sizable number of schools joining the Scheme. The more schools joining the Scheme, the more likely a stable environment for facilitating sustainable development of secondary schools can be secured. Owing to the sharp decline in the population of school children in 2011, we particularly encourage schools to actively consider choosing to start their S1 class reduction from the 2011/12 school year.
11. To streamline the application procedure, we have merged the two deadlines (i.e.
30 November 2010 and 31 August 2011) for applications for different commencement years of class reduction. The new application deadline is 25 February 2011. Schools are requested to discuss the participation in the Scheme with key stakeholders at the earliest convenience. Please complete the reply slip at the Annex and return it to the respective Chief School Development Officer on or before 25 February 2011. Schools may propose the year of implementation of S1 class reduction. However, subject to the demand and supply of S1 places and other factors, the actual year of implementation is to be determined by the EDB. The schools concerned will be informed of the application results by late March 2011.
SSPA Arrangement
12. The Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) 2009/11 exercise has already started. For schools approved to reduce S1 classes in the 2011/12 school year under the Scheme, their discretionary places quota will be calculated based on the number of S1 classes before the reduction. Their central allocation places quota will be adjusted accordingly. For schools approved to reduce S1 classes in the subsequent school years, their discretionary places quota and central allocation places quota in the relevant years
of SSPA exercise will be calculated based on the number of S1 classes after the reduction according to the existing mechanism and established procedures.
Deployment of Resources and Accounting Arrangements
13. Schools joining the Scheme should ensure the effective deployment of the surplus teachers (if any) and the effective use of the extra SSCSG provision to enhance the quality of education. The details of the deployment of teachers and the use of the grant should be included in the School Report.
14. Schools are required to keep separate ledger accounts to record all the incomes and expenditures chargeable to the extra SSCSG provision.
Enquiries
15. For enquiries, please contact your respective Senior School Development Officer. A set of commonly asked questions and answers (Chinese version) in relation to this circular memorandum has been uploaded onto the EDB website for reference (http://www.edb.gov.hk → School Administration → Administration → Enhanced Measures of the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme).
16. This circular memorandum supersedes Education Bureau Circular Memorandum No. 43/2010 issued on 25 March 2010.
Mrs Betty IP
for Permanent Secretary for Education c.c. Heads of Primary Schools/Special Schools/Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) Schools and
Heads of Sections – for information
Annex
Reply Slip
To : CSDO ( ) Fax no.:
Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme
In response to EDBCM No.190/2010 on "Further Measures for Facilitating Sustainable Development of Secondary Schools" issued on 26 November 2010, our school hereby applies for joining the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme.
Our school wishes to reduce one S1 class from the 2011/12 or 2012/13* school year. Our school understands that the actual year of implementation will be decided by the EDB according to the demand and supply of S1 places and other factors. Our proposed class structure is as follows:
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
Number of classes in 2010/11 Proposed ultimate number of classes
*Please delete where appropriate
Supplementary information (if any):
Signature of School Supervisor:
Name of School Supervisor:
School Name:
Date:
For schools applying for the Voluntary Optimisation of Class Structure Scheme, please complete this proforma and return it to their respective Chief School Development Officer (by fax or mail) on or before Friday, 25 February 2011.
School Chop
