Audit Commission Hong Kong, Director of Audits report No 76:
The number of students from non-Chinese speaking families attending local schools increased by 12.6% over a recent 3 year period.
From 2015/16 to school year 2019/20 the total number of children from NCS families studying in local schools increased from 23,021 to 25,929.
In the period from 2015/16 to 2019/20, the expenditure on the education support measures increased by $211.8 million (87%) from $244.5 million to $456.3 million. The report raises concerns about how this money is being spent. The report states:
Some schools are not using all of the NCS Grant.
EDB is not monitoring how the funding is used.
EDB has not set training requirements for schools on teaching NCS students Chinese as a second language.
Teachers are not taking up existing CSL training opportunities.
Need to improve drop-out rate of after-school Student Support Programmes