HONG KONG - The Education Bureau held on Monday a sharing session at Pui Kiu Middle School in North Point on the first anniversary of President Xi Jinping's reply letter of encouragement to the school’s students.

The sharing session, attended by over 400 students and teachers, reviewed how the EDB and the education sector have realized the spirit laid down in Xi’s letter and to plan the way forward, according to a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government statement.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin said at the session that Xi's reply letter on July 24 last year conveyed his earnest expectations for the young generation of Hong Kong.

Over the year, the EDB has been striving to live up to the spirit of Xi's letter and nurture young people's affection and sense of belonging to the country, driven by the mission to cultivate values and nurture talent, said Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin

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Over the year, the EDB has been striving to live up to the spirit of Xi's letter and nurture young people's affection and sense of belonging to the country, driven by the mission to cultivate values and nurture talent, she said.

Apart from continuous enhancement of the curriculum and teaching resources and the professional development for teachers, the EDB has been supporting schools in organizing various learning activities, including Chinese mainland exchange programs (MEPs) and study tours to broadening students' horizons.

Choi expressed her gratitude for the education sector’s staunch support and the enthusiastic participation of students in a wide variety of MEPs and study tours.

She said that, after the full resumption of normal travel between the SAR and the mainland early last year, the EDB promptly launched mainland study tours on the senior secondary subject of Citizenship and Social Development, attracting nearly 95,000 students so far.

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The MEPs for students also provide over 100,000 exchange places every year, which are sufficient for every student to join an MEP at least once in primary or secondary school.

Under the Sister School Scheme, more than 930 publicly funded schools have established more than 2,800 sister school pairs with their mainland counterparts. There have also been over 100 secondary schools participating in the five-year Greater Bay Area Career Exploration Tours Programme launched this school year.

Choi said that the EDB will continue to optimize various MEPs and study tours, providing more opportunities for students to understand the country's latest developments and achievements from multiple perspectives, and assisting them to combine reading and travelling.

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The sharing session as also attended by Director-General of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR Wang Weiming; Supervisor of Pui Kiu Middle School Jasper Tsang; Constitution and Basic Law Student Ambassadors; and teachers and students from over 10 secondary schools.

At the sharing session, teacher and student representatives of Pui Kiu Middle School shared their inspirations gained from Xi's reply letter.

The student representatives talked about how visits to the mainland enabled them to delve deeper into the history and culture of the country. The teacher representative outlined how the school's work aligned with curriculum development in promoting patriotic education inside and outside the classroom.

Students from Pui Kiu Middle School and other schools then engaged in group sharing sessions on their learning experiences related to aerospace development, exchange activities on the mainland and in the Belt and Road regions, and physical and aesthetic development.