Education | Lifelong Learning Week kicks off on Saturday

Wong Chi Iong

The 2018 Lifelong Learning Week will kick off on October 13 and will run until October 19, with more programs lined up for participants compared to previous events, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) announced yesterday in a press conference.

This year, activities consist of around 120 programs, including occupational education and family life education. These programs will be carried out through a series of seminars, courses and outdoor activities.

In total, nine associations, three schools and two government departments are co-organizing Lifelong Learning Week. In addition, 17 organizations (including some English tutoring centers) and book stores are offering special discounts to participants for course enrollment or book purchases. 

On October 14, an awards presentation of the Lifelong Learning Incentive Project will also be held to award excellent participants of the project.

This year, 194 residents will be awarded under the Lifelong Learning Incentive Project.

Lifelong Learning Week was launched in 2002, while the first Lifelong Learning Incentive Project was first carried out in 2005. In the first Lifelong Learning Inventive Project, only 11 residents were awarded.

According to the head of the Division of Continuing Education under DSEJ, Wong Chi Iong, besides the increase in the number of awards, the total number of participants in the two programs has also increased.

At this year’s event, the government, together with co-organizers, is providing more projects. As a consequence, the budget for the two activities increased to MOP350,000, representing an additional cost of MOP120,000 compared to the previous year.

On the sidelines of the press conference, Wong talked about some statistics from the city’s Continuing Education Development Plan.

“We can see that, in terms of infractions within organizations, there is no obvious increase,” said Wong, adding “recently, in the third phase of the plan, we have conducted approximately 2,500 inspections, […] we have issued about 190 letters to the concerned organizations [which were found guilty of malpractice].”

In the third phase (from 2017 until now), around 20 infractions have been reported, with most cases being related to fraud and fabricating courses.

In regard to the city’s overall continuing education program, a growth in the number of attendees has also been registered, as reported by Wong.

Since DSEJ launched the Continuing Education Development Plan in 2011, more than 420,000 participants have been registered.