Student Grant (2020/21 School Year)

Background

As part of the $19.1 billion relief measures announced by the Financial Secretary in August 2019, a one-off student grant of $2,500 was provided in the 2019/20 school year for each secondary day-school, primary school and kindergarten student to alleviate parents’financial burden in defraying education expenses.  The provision was approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council on 6 December 2019.  The Chief Executive proposed in the 2019 Policy Address to regularise the provision of the student grant starting from the 2020/21 school year.

Eligibility Criteria

The student grant will be non-means-tested. All students (Note 1), as at the date of application, studying in secondary day-schools, primary schools and special schools (including public sector schools, Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, English Schools Foundation schools, private schools) as well as kindergartens (regardless of whether joining the kindergarten education scheme) offering local or non-local curriculum in Hong Kong, are eligible for the grant. Students of evening schools, students of private studies, holders of student visa for entry into Hong Kong for studies and holders of Form of Recognizance issued by the Immigration Department are not within the scope of subsidy.

[Note 1: Kindergarten students have to be at the age of two years and eight months or above as at 1 September of the school year in order to be eligible for the student grant.]

Taking into account that there are some students who should meet the eligibility criteria stated in the above but attend other programmes owing to special circumstances, the following students are also eligible for the grant:
(a) Children at the age of two years and eight months or above as at 1 September of the school year concerned attending the Special Child Care Centres subsidised by the Social Welfare Department owing to special needs;
(b) Newly arrived children attending the full-time Initiation Programme funded by the Education Bureau (EDB); and
(c) Students taking full-time programmes for Secondary 3 school leavers offered by the Vocational Training Council.

Application Forms

For the “Student Grant” Application Forms, there are Form A and Form B.  Form A is a blank form (applicable to students who are newly admitted to a school in this school year or have transferred to another school).  Form B is pre-printed with the basic information of the student as well as that of the applicant (applicable to students who have been promoted to the next class level in the same school). 

• Form A 

Application Procedure and Period

The completed Application Forms must be submitted to EDB through the student’s attending school.  Schools are requested to stamp the school chop on each “Student Grant”Application Form to confirm the student concerned is its student.  The deadline for applications for the student grant in the 2020/21 school year is 6 November 2020.  Parents should return the completed Application Forms via school to EDB’s Special Duties Office.

Bank Account Information

Applicants are required to provide full information on their bank account. Incomplete information will lead to failure in bank transfer. Bank account number should include bank code. Applicants should refer to the monthly bank statement/passbook for the bank code (e.g. 003 for Standard Chartered Bank, 004 for HSBC, 024 for Hang Seng Bank). Please refer to “Video on how to fill in the application form (including how to fill in the bank account information correctly)”and“Common Bank Code List” under Reference below. In case of doubt, you may wish to check with your bank.

Disbursement of Grant

As parents generally possess local bank accounts, the subsidy will be disbursed to parents via bank transfer.

Progress Reports

To assist schools to communicate with parents/guardians on issues concerning the student grant, starting from the 2020/21 school year, EDB will provide schools with progress reports on the applications via Student Grant System (https://stgsfile.edb.gov.hk/) on a regular basis, which will help schools better understand the progress of the applications and respond to parents' enquiries as appropriate.  Schools have to access Student Grant System to download the progress reports using the master school administrator accounts of the EDB e-Services Portal or Common Log-On System (CLO) school administrator accounts via CLO.  Schools can contact CLO Helpdesk for enquiries related to CLO.

Reference

• Video on how to fill in the application form (including how to fill in the bank account information correctly) (English version)
  
• Common Bank Code List (Bilingual) 
• Frequently asked questions (English version) 

• Form A (Sample) (Bilingual) 

• Form B (Sample) (Bilingual) 
• EDB Circular Memorandum No. 152/2020 

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact the EDB’s Special Duties Office (email: spdoenquiry@edb.gov.hk; hotline: 3850 2000; address: 10/F, Kwun Tong View, 410 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon.) Please provide student name, school name, parent name and contact number to facilitate follow-up.