Support during June and Year-end Holidays for Children Without Conducive Home Environments
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Cai Yinzhou’s enquiry regarding holiday support for students lacking conducive home environments and whether the Ministry of Education would fund independent programmes. Minister Desmond Lee stated that schools identify students for Student Care Centres, which provide academic coaching and enrichment during breaks. He added that schools also partner with community agencies to offer industry exposure and drop-in centres featuring mentoring and age-appropriate activities. Although the Ministry does not track the proportion of students utilizing these programmes, it continues to resource schools to support those with additional needs. MOE remains committed to working with community partners to ensure holistic student development during both school terms and holidays.
Transcript
35 Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Minister for Education (a) what support measures are available during the June and year-end holidays for students without conducive home environments or adult supervision; (b) what proportion of primary and secondary students utilised school-based holiday care or study programmes in 2025; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider funding independent holiday programmes to engage students who require stable, supervised environments during these extended breaks.
Mr Desmond Lee: Primary schools proactively identify students who would benefit most from after-school care, such as those without conducive home environments or adult supervision, and encourage their parents to enrol them in school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs). During school holidays, SCCs organise programmes, such as academic coaching, reading support and mentoring. They also offer activities in sports, arts, music and other programmes like coding classes.
In addition, primary and secondary schools partner community agencies or engage vendors to conduct holiday programmes. These include industry exposure programmes, interest-based activities and drop-in centres with mentoring support and age-appropriate activities. Students can access such holiday programmes in their respective schools. The Ministry of Education (MOE) does not track the proportion of students who used SCC or school-based holiday programmes in any given year.
MOE will continue to resource schools adequately to support students with additional needs and work with community partners to develop students holistically during both the school terms and school holidays.