Kick-off Ceremony of the Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools

The Kick-off Ceremony was held from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on 7 November 2015 in the Conference Hall of Central Government Offices at 2 Tim Mei Avenue.

Welcome Speech by MC
Hi everybody, welcome to the Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools Kick-off Ceremony organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.

We are the MCs of today’s ceremony. I am Kimmey. I am Charlson.

I know that this Kick-off Ceremony has gathered over 500 teachers and students from eight schools today, which is an enormous group of participants.

Yes, all participating students have great passion for IT. In the 2014-15 Budget, the Financial Secretary proposed to incorporate enrichment programmes in secondary schools which are outstanding in IT education in order to cultivate students to become IT professionals and even entrepreneurs so as to meet the development needs of our future digital society.

Now, let us welcome our Financial Secretary, Mr. John Tsang Chun-wah, to deliver a speech for the Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools Kick-off Ceremony.

The Financial Secretary, Mr. Tsang, please.

Speech by Mr. John Tsang Chun-wah, the Financial Secretary
It is my pleasure to meet over 500 students from eight Partner Schools who have joined the inaugural Enriched IT Class. I would also like to express my gratitude to the representatives of academia and IT industry, as well as a few large multinational IT enterprises, which have offered huge support and participated in this Enriched IT Programme.

In recent years, there is a new technological wave, especially of digital communications, cloud computing, or big data, robots, biotechnology, etc., which has completely changed our lives and our ways of interacting with one another. These changes have clearly shown that technology is the major driver of global economic developments.

We have to sustain Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the face of this global landscape. We must promote innovation and technology to build a knowledge-based economy with diversified industries.

To foster digital information technology (IT) specialists, I proposed in last year’s Budget to incorporate enrichment programmes in some secondary schools so as to provide students with focused and in-depth IT training, and to develop their innovative thinking, with a view to fostering a new generation of technological elites of Hong Kong, and promoting the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s society and economy.

I sincerely hope that every student here will seize the precious opportunity of participating in enrichment class to keep on developing and researching on a variety of IT topics that you are interested in.

I hope that you will apply what you’ve learnt today to build up your own IT career, improve our living environment and contribute to the society through the application of science and technology.

Thank you.

[MC]
Thank you Mr. Tsang.

Presentation of Certificates to Partner Schools of Enriched IT Class
[MC]
To express our gratitude to the eight Partner Schools, we’d like to have Dr. K. K. Chan, Deputy Secretary for Education, to present the shields of Enriched IT Class to the eight Partner Schools.

First, we have Mr. Chan Wing Kit, Principal of The Y.W.C.A. Hioe Tjo Yoeng College.
Then, we have Mr. Poon Shing Kai, Principal of Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Secondary School.
Next, we have Mr. Tam Yat Yuk, Principal of Pui Ching Middle School.
Thank you Mr. Tam.
Then, we have Mr. Kwong Wing Sun, Principal of Christian Alliance SW Chan Memorial College.
Next, we have Mr. Kai Sze Fai, Principal of Shun Tak Fraternal Association Yung Yau College.
And we have Ms. Wong Wai Yee, Vice Principal of Tin Ka Ping Secondary School.
Then, we have Sr. Wang Jinlian of St. Paul's Convent School.
Finally, we have Mr. Wong Wing Tung, Principal of Pak Kau College.

Swearing-in Ceremony of Students of Enriched IT Class
[MC]
Now, let us welcome the Government Chief Information Officer to lead the students of Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools to read aloud the Swearing-in Declaration.

We shall commit ourselves to the Enriched IT Programme
Through self-directed exploration and diversified learning
We aim to enrich our knowledge and broaden our horizons
In order to leverage on technology to innovate and excel
And promote sustainable development of the digital society
We will strive to advance to the forefront of technology and rise to new challenges
In order to fulfil our dreams with knowledge and shape our future with technology

[MC]
Okay, once again let’s extend our applause of encouragement to all students.

Interactive Discussion on “How to Foster the New Generation of IT Elites”
[Ir. Allen Yeung, Government Chief Information Officer]
First of all, I’d like to share my story of learning IT.

Let me start with my secondary school years. Actually it was in the 70s when I was in secondary school. We didn’t have something as good as this enrichment programme, so we needed to learn it on our own. At that time, we had a very nice teacher at school. He helped us with the learning of BASIC programming in his spare time after school. So we took some lessons of BASIC.

During the learning process, I found it very interesting that we could send commands and control the computer to turn left or right, and make some very simple games.

Now, let’s talk about the Enriched IT Class today. It doesn’t mean that you have to work in the computing industry after you have finished the programme. The most important point is that you have to master logical thinking, enable yourselves to apply what you’ve learnt today while using your own logical thinking for the society someday in your future milestones.

[Professor Wong Kam Fai, Associate Dean (External Affairs), Faculty of Engineering, CUHK]
How do we see IT as members of the education sector? IT itself is a thinking tool.

There is a famous saying, and I think you may have probably read it: “Ignorant are those who learn without thinking.” That means we should not study without understanding. If we do so, though we may still get good results in the exams, we may not understand the theories behind, let alone applying them. That’s meaningless.

Therefore, the purpose of the Enriched IT Programme we now have is to promote IT and IT education. It is not only a training procedure, but also a way to develop our logical thinking and computational thinking for solving daily problems.

[Mr. Jason Chiu, CEO, The Cherrypicks Group]
First of all, let me share my story as a student.

Just like ordinary boys, I liked football and assembling models when I was young because I liked the process of creation: from zero to one, from nothing to something.

I liked calculation very much when I was in secondary school. I gradually discovered that calculation meant more than finding the accurate answer. It was also a means of solving problems.

When I was in college, I found that computers could help us calculate, and there was something called “information technology” during the process of calculation!

IT can change the world! As far as IT and innovation are concerned, being the “only one” is the most important thing. Even you are the number one today, you still have to be the only one, because the essence of IT lies in innovation, and being the only one!

[Mr. Gabriel Tsz-kit Pang, Managing Director, Firedog Computer Entertainment Ltd.]
The game market is huge. That means the gaming industry of Hong Kong is booming and profit-making. And the current situation is not really bad.

However, Hong Kong’s gaming industry can’t catch up with the overall development in Mainland China proportionately in terms of output value. It is roughly one billion dollars (as per the output value a few years ago). It’s one billion Hong Kong dollars. It’s not really bad!

In fact, for the fresh programmers joining the gaming industry nowadays – if we can hire any (well, actually we can’t as very few people really fit, a great shortage) – their starting salary is around HK$15,000 to HK$16,000. So, the gaming industry is indeed an industry that is worth investing as a subject of study.

If you are really interested in the gaming industry, you are most welcome to join this industry. However, after you have completed your study in the IT programme, your choice is not limited to the gaming industry. You can choose to work in any industry that is related to gaming, such as game-based education, that is “learning game”.

The End
The Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools Kick-off Ceremony concluded successfully.

By Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.