The government will launch the fourth phase of its continuing education subsidy scheme tomorrow, which entitles local residents aged at least 15 to get a 6,000-pataca subsidy to enrol in courses run by the city’s various continuing education institutions until the end of August 2023.
As in the previous phases, courses run by officially recognised education institutions outside Macau are also covered by the subsidy.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon made the announcement during Friday’s Executive Council press conference. He said that the government has finished drafting a by-law regulating the fourth phase of its continuing education subsidy scheme, officially known as “Continuing Education and Development Programme”. Cheong is the council’s spokesman.
Government-drafted by-laws, officially known as administrative regulations, do not require the legislature’s approval.
Different from the previous phases, under the new three-year phase residents must enrol in the courses in person as well as digitally at the respective education institutions with their ID cards, according to Cheong.
Cheong said that the government has strengthened its supervision of the subsidy scheme in the fourth phase by “fully” implementing the mandatory electronic enrolment in all courses and personal signing of all attendance records, with the aim of tackling the various irregularities and illegal activities that occurred in the previous phases of the scheme.
Under the new fourth phase, students and instructors must always sign the attendance records digitally with their respective ID cards, according to Cheong.
The government first launched the subsidy scheme in 2011 which ran until the end of 2013, with each person then able to receive a 5,000-pataca subsidy. The subsidy was raised to the current 6,000 patacas in 2014 when the scheme’s second phase was launched. The scheme’s third phase started in 2017 and ran until the end of last year.
According to Cheong, the budget for the fourth phase is 800 million patacas. The government spent 523 million patacas on the first phase of the subsidy scheme, while 747 million patacas and 858 million patacas were spent on the second and third phases respectively, Cheong said.
The fourth phase of the continuing education subsidy scheme was initially slated to start earlier this year. However, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said in April that the government would not launch the scheme’s fourth phase until it finishes rectifying the various issues and loopholes of the scheme.
The same as in the previous phases, in addition to continuing education courses, beneficiaries can use the subsidy to also pay for higher education courses and fees of examinations for obtaining professional certificates – either run by local education institutions and those outside Macau.
Cheong said that the administrative regulation on the subsidy scheme’s fourth phase will take effect tomorrow – when eligible residents can start to enrol courses – after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO) today.
According to Cheong, education institutions which have violated rules of the subsidy scheme will be fined between 5,000 patacas and 50,000 patacas, unchanged from the previous phases. Cheong said that the government has decided not to raise the fines as it aims to combat irregularities by putting emphasis on improving the scheme’s regulations and strengthening supervision and inspections.
In addition to non-criminal irregularities, the police have also busted local education institutions that have cheated the government out of its subsidies – which is a criminal offence – since the launch of the scheme nine years ago.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (centre), Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) Director Lou Pak Sang (right), and Wong Chi Iong, who heads the bureau’s Continuing Education Division, address Friday’s press conference at Government Headquarters about the fourth phase of the government’s “Continuing Education and Development Programme”. Courtesy: TDM
