Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Minister of 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.

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Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the current utilisation rate of school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs) and school-based holiday programmes at the primary and secondary levels, respectively; (b) how many primary students are currently on waitlists for SCC places; and (c) what specific measures are being taken to expand capacity in high-demand estates to ensure that children from low-income families have priority access.

Mr Desmond Lee: Currently, around 30,000 students are enrolled in the Student Care Centres (SCCs) in 182 primary schools. They provide care after school and during the school holidays. This service is not needed in secondary schools.

Schools work with SCC operators to expand capacity to meet demand where needed, while maintaining service quality. Most schools have sufficient SCC capacity to meet demand. In schools where the demand for SCC places exceeds current provision, schools prioritise students who would benefit most from after-school care, such as those from lower-income households who may not have conducive home environments or adult supervision after school. There are a small number of children known to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to be on a waitlist of a SCC, but they all have current alternative care arrangements.

For school-based holiday programmes, a similar question was answered in this House in January 2026. The member may wish to refer to MOE’s reply to oral Question No. 35 on the Order Paper for 13 January 2026.

MOE will continue to work closely with agencies and community partners so that students, including those from lower-income families, can have access to school-based student care services during both the school terms and school holidays.