Regional collaboration on education promotes prosperity

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area provides an invaluable opportunity for Hong Kong to break through the bottleneck of local education development. The opening of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have not only facilitated the integration of the two special administrative regions into the overall development of the country, but also allow other cities in the Pearl River Delta to leverage the two SARs' strengths to further their development.

The essence of Bay Area development is mobility, including logistics, personnel exchange, capital flow and talent mobility. Those of us who work in the education section care more about the flow of talents: Talents from Hong Kong and the mainland can move to the other side of the boundary to seek greater opportunities. In order to facilitate this flow, we must instill our students with the correct knowledge, skills, attitudes and values so as to prepare them for the opportunities and challenges ahead.

First we must maintain our competitive edge in language. Hong Kong's racial diversity has helped bring about our biliterate and trilingual education. This helps Hong Kong students to gain a foothold in the Cantonese-speaking Bay Area while setting their sight on both the vast mainland economic hinterland and the boundless world market. Accordingly, we must bring our unique language education system into full play to keep up with development of the Bay Area.

At the same time, our students should also enhance their awareness of the Bay Area development and understand the challenges Hong Kong is facing. They should keep themselves informed of measures to facilitate Hong Kong residents to study, work or live on the mainland, such as training and development programs designed for Hong Kong youth to enhance their understanding of the employment market and development in the Bay Area and the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) that promotes the entry of Hong Kong's professional services into the mainland market.

Aside from knowledge about the Bay Area development, our students should also be equipped with the necessary skills. To this end, educators should focus on nurturing students' innovative capability, entrepreneurship and creativity. Simultaneously, the effort to create an international innovation and technology hub will help build a creative workforce that can help our country achieve breakthroughs in high-end technologies.

Our students also need to construct correct attitudes and values. The Bay Area development will shorten the physical distance between partner cities, and we expect that schools will organize more exchange and study tours within the region so students can appreciate the natural features and long-standing culture of our country. They will also be given the opportunity to experience the campus life and customs on the mainland, which can help broaden their visions.

Hong Kong's ability to accommodate different cultures has contributed to its prosperity and vitality. By conducting more exchanges and closer collaboration, we can further promote social progress and economic prosperity on both sides of the boundary. To this end, Hong Kong should seek closer collaboration on education with Macao and Guangdong province.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung once noted that it was imperative to implement national education so young people could learn more about the country and cultivate a sense of belonging to our nation. National education is of paramount importance as it will enhance young people's understanding of our country, which will enable them to find their positioning in national development and develop a sense of national identity.

Having been involved in special education for many years, I pay particular attention to development in this area. Due to economic and cultural reasons, provinces on the mainland have fared differently in special education. Thanks to the popularization of special education in Hong Kong, our society has a better understanding of integrated education. Now with the Bay Area progressing in full speed, it will help promote collaboration between Guangdong and the two SARs in education development.

At this moment, we should continue to improve the conditions that will facilitate Hong Kong and Macao residents to settle in the Bay Area. For instance, we can study the possibility of establishing schools that adopt the Hong Kong curriculum in the Bay Area to admit Hong Kong children whose parents work and live on the mainland, implementing more policies that will promote employment opportunities for Hong Kong students graduating from mainland schools and lowering the requirements for the professional sectors to enter the Bay Area, etc.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the nation's reform and opening-up, Hong Kong can count on continued support from the motherland. We can foresee that the city will continue to enjoy favorable conditions for economic development and maintain its competitive edge. I am convinced that those difficulties and challenges expected on the operational level can be effectively tackled under the "one country, two systems" principle and the collaborative framework to be agreed upon by Guangdong and two SARs.

The above is an editorial published by China Daily on Dec 11, 2018.