Around 2,000 underprivileged students will be matched with a mentor and given a HK$10,000 subsidy under the government’s new “Strive and Rise Programme” which aims to help lift adolescents out of intergenerational poverty.
Chief Secretary Eric Chan announced the launch of the programme on Monday, saying the first phase would target young teens living in subdivided units.
The first half of the subsidy will be distributed at the beginning of the programme in October, with the student’s mentor advising them how to spend it. The second half the subsidy will be disbursed at the end of the one-year programme in the form of a scholarship.
Politics plays no part
The official said that matching the students with mentors was key, as it was particularly important to teach the youngsters financial management. The chief secretary said the government hoped to find leaders from the business sector and big corporations or groups, as they could better teach these skills.
When asked whether pro-democracy figures would be considered for mentorship roles, Chan said that the selection process did not favour individuals from pro-democracy or pro-establishment camps.
“Politics is absolutely out of our scope of consideration,” he said. “We are not trying to indoctrinate the children with political ideologies. We hope to teach them to set their own life goals.”
Elite athletes such as Olympic fencing gold medallist Edgar Cheung, and bronze medallists Minnie Soo, Doo Hoi-kem and Lee Ho-ching of the women’s table tennis team, also attended the press conference on Monday. Chan said they would be “star mentors.”
Key performance indicator
When asked whether the government has any key performance indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, Chan said authorities would work with universities to conduct evaluation for students before and after they joined the programme.
He said the programme focused not on what skills the pupils acquired with the subsidy, but their mindset and thinking, and whether they have a clearer idea on setting their life goal and career plan after completing the programme.
Chan also said the government would expand the programme to recruit more students if capacity allowed. He also called on businesses and the commercial sector to make donations.
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