About the Sister School Scheme

Yes. In addition to one-to-one exchanges, schools having more than one sister school in the Mainland may develop "bilateral exchanges" into "multilateral exchanges" by establishing networks with all of their sister schools to expand the modes and enhance the effectiveness of exchanges.

Schools are at liberty to liaise with their Mainland sister schools about the content of the pairing-up documents, as long as the documents clearly indicate their relationship as sister schools.  Reference can be made to the sample sister school contract on the Sister School Scheme website of EDB.

If schools wish to form sister school pairs through the coordination of EDB, they can submit the completed form "Indication of Preference for Pairing Up with Mainland Schools" to EDB. We will then liaise on their behalf with the Mainland education authorities for the purpose. Due to the time required for pairing up sister schools, which varies by Mainland provinces and municipalities as well as school types, and the preferences of schools in both places, schools will be notified as soon as the pairing is completed.

EDB provides professional support to schools joining the Sister School Scheme, for example, coordinating the pairing-up arrangements, organising exchange activities, conducting school visits, setting up a thematic website, holding sharing sessions regularly for disseminating good practices, with a view to promoting more in-depth professional exchanges and multi-faceted collaboration. Besides, EDB commissions service contractor(s) to offer advice on the arrangements of exchange activities to schools, assist schools in the organisation of exchange activities, as well as collecting and disseminating good practices, etc.

Schools are required to arrange sufficient manpower according to the established requirements on student-to-teacher ratio when conducting exchange activities.  For details, please refer to the "School Activities Guidelines" webpage on EDB’s website at the following path:

Home > School Administration and Management > Administration > About Activities > School Activities Guidelines

Written approval has been given to principals and teachers of aided schools to take paid special leave to attend the aforementioned sister school exchange activities on the conditions that-

• the relevant sister school exchange activities are professional development activities for principals or teachers; and
• the timing of the sister school activities follows the principle that school operation will not be affected and proper arrangements (including assigning suitable reliefs for the principals/teachers concerned) will be made to ensure undisrupted delivery of routine teaching and administrative work, and that consent to such arrangements has been obtained from the Incorporated Management Committee (IMC)/School Management Committee(SMC); and
• the IMC/SMC has approved and processed the leave applications of principals or teachers in accordance with established policies and principles and ensured that the arrangements concerned are fair and consistent.  In addition, the IMC/SMC has the responsibility to handle relevant complaints, if any, received by the school.

If a principal or a teacher takes paid leave of more than 3 days during his/her acting period to attend sister school exchange activities, the number of leave days will not be counted as part of the qualifying period for acting allowance and will result in the forfeiture of acting allowance for the whole period of paid leave (including the leave days and intervening public holidays and Sundays).  For details, please refer to EDBC No. 8/2004.

Schools may flexibly make use of the Grant for the Sister School Scheme (the Grant) to arrange different modes of sister school exchange activities at school management, teacher and student levels. In addition, schools should allocate the Grant properly (including determining whether to use the Grant to subsidise students and the respective amount of the Grant to be allocated) to achieve the plans and objectives of sister school exchange activities for the school year.

Schools may make use of the Grant for the Sister School Scheme (the Grant) to arrange different sister school exchange activities having regard to their specific circumstances. As the Grant is a designated funding, schools shall use the Grant to meet the expenses of sister school exchange activities and relevant support relating to the objectives of the Sister School Scheme. To ensure that expenditures incurred are reasonable and necessary for educational purpose in a cost-effective manner, schools are required to observe the established principles and requirements on the use of public funds as promulgated by EDB when using the Grant. For details, please refer to "Points to Note on Usage of the Grant for the Sister School Scheme" on the Sister School Scheme website of EDB.

The Grant for the Sister School Scheme must be used to meet the expenses of sister school exchange activities and relevant support relating to the objectives of the Sister School Scheme. Schools should make use of other grants/resources to cover all the expenses not related to sister school exchange activities.

Yes, provided that the relevant expenses on sister school exchange activities taking place in Hong Kong do not include the travelling, boarding or lodging expenses for the school personnel and students of Mainland sister schools on their visits to Hong Kong.

Schools are encouraged to make good use of the Grant for the Sister School Scheme to organise rich and diversified exchange activities with their sister schools. Should schools consider it necessary to purchase video-conferencing facilities for sister school exchange activities, they must carefully review the ratio of these expenses to the exchange expenditure to ensure that the relevant expenses are necessary and reasonable.

No. However, schools should ensure that all invoices and receipts of expenses for sister school activities are maintained properly to facilitate easy inspection as and when necessary.

Schools may deploy the Grant for the Sister School Scheme (the Grant) to arrange exchange activities with their sister schools based on their development needs at student, teacher and school management levels. Since school supervisors and school managers are members of the school management, schools may use the Grant to cover their expenses incurred in relation to sister school exchange activities. Regarding parents, unless they are the school managers who participate in the sister school exchange activities in the capacity of the school management, the Grant should not be used to cover their expenses.

The Sister School Scheme (the Scheme) serves as a platform for professional interflows and cooperation for Hong Kong primary, secondary and special schools, enabling them to organise exchange activities with their Mainland counterparts at various levels based on their development needs. One of the objectives of the Scheme is to deepen teachers’ and students’ understanding of the Mainland/Hong Kong. Therefore, the Grant for the Sister School Scheme can only be used to cover expenses in relation to sister school exchange activities held in the Mainland or Hong Kong.