Giving Creativity and Creative Education a Hand

For young people to be competitive in the new world, with its emphasis on knowledge and technology, they need to be creative, original and enterprising. As these are qualities that can be learnt, the Federation places great store in offering opportunities for youth to develop their potential in these areas.

While two such programmes offered by the Federation are mentioned below, there are several more initiatives in the pipeline for which we call upon our partners to help assist and encourage. These include creative education competitions, specialised training for teachers, creativity kits for schools, as well as a creativity festival.

The success of our young people, both at home and abroad, is dependent on their creative and original thinking. We as a community need to support these efforts to ensure that Hong Kong is not left behind, especially in this age of globalisation. Please do join us to get these creative education and creativity programmes off the ground.

Call the Partnership Office on 2123 9598 for more details. Let us all help make the young people of Hong Kong competitive and creative!

Creativity is one asset that young people need to develop if they are to find success in
the new, knowledge-based, global economy, in which new technologies and new
knowledge emerge at a relentless pace. Creativity includes the ability for divergent and critical thinking, the confidence to take risks and the self belief to be original and different.

Hong Kong has been well aware of this trend. The Education Reform stresses the importance of creative education as one way by which young people can develop the talents and skills to cope with challenges both in and out of the classroom.

Given that creativity is a skill that can be learnt, rather than an inherent talent, according to Dr. Edward de Bono, the world's leading authority in the field of creativity, it is crucial that opportunities are provided for young people to be able to indulge in their imagination, while also learning.

Towards this end, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups has been organising a number of competitions and programmes that stress the creative aspects of youth development. Two such programmes, which take the form of competitions, are the Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition and the Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Programme.

The Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition

Jointly organised by the Innovation and Technology Commission, the Education and Manpower Bureau and the Federation, the Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition tests creativity, as well as scientific knowledge. Students are required
to create new and original inventions or investigate scientific phenomena. Now in its 6th year, the Competition was proved to be extremely popular, not only with students, but also with teachers. In 2004, The Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition
attracted the participation of 105 teams from 60 secondary schools, of which 28 were first-timers. The winners of the Competition will be sponsored to participate in overseas science forums or competitions to enrich their global vision.

The Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Programme

The Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Programme was introduced to Hong Kong in 1995 under the join patronage and effort of the Federation and the Education Department (now known as the Education and Manpower Bureau). The principal sponsor of the programme is The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. This international educational programme, which originated in the U.S.A., aims to provide young people with opportunities to develop their creativity and problem-solving abilities through teamwork, as well as to foster original and divergent thinking.

This year, a total of 152 participating teams from 40 primary schools, 73 secondary schools and 6 youth centres will present their creative responses to the long-term problems and spontaneous problems in the 2004 Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind
Regional Competitions to be held at The Hong Kong Institute of Education on 20 and 21 March 2002. Winning teams from the local competitions will be sponsored to represent Hong Kong at the World Finals held in the U.S.A. and other Odyssey of the
Mind Competitions. You are cordially invited to come and witness the creativity spirits of the teams in the tournament next Saturday and Sunday!

As education is an investment in the future of the society, it would seem inconceivable that governments would not wish to spend on it. However, in many places, public expenditure on education is low. Hong Kong does not have this problem, though the amount spent on education is slowly becoming a burden for the Government. In the year 2003/04, the estimated public expenditure on education was HK$610 million dollars, that is 22% of total government expenditure. This is one of the highest total public expenditure on education as a percentage of total government expenditure in the world, as shown by the following table.

Youth Volunteers Get a Boost

Along with the launch of its new mobile PC, VAIO PCG-Z1XGP in February 2004, Sony Corporation of Hong Kong Limited and Adobe jointly organized a DVD creation training course for their customers. Sony kindly donated all the proceeds of the course to the Federation to help support the development of youth volunteering.

Youth Explore Gender Issues through producing Digital Video

Funded by the Home Affairs Bureau, the Federation's Ping Shek Youth S.P.O.T. initiated a project encouraging young people to discuss the topic of sexual orientation and gender roles by producing original digital videos for the second consecutive year. The youth participants underwent a series of lectures on filming and screenwriting techniques in late November 2003. Under the guidance of three mentors, the young people produced thought-provoking videos highlighting the problems of sexual discrimination and the social stigma associated with homosexuality and bisexuality.

Encourage Youth to Live a Healthy and Happy Life

The Federation's Farm Road Youth S.P.O.T. is very grateful to receive financial sponsorship of the annual "BRAND'S Health Campaign", funded by the BRAND'S Health Education Fund. The resources helped to organize a programme called "Be a Healthy and Happy Person" from February to May 2004. Matching the theme" Crossover of Creativity and Stress Management", the programme aims to train secondary students to become Health Ambassadors through different activities like gardening, healthy cooking and sessions about stress management.

The Health Ambassadors are then encouraged to take part in community services promoting the importance of stress management and healthy lifestyle to the residents of Kowloon City.

Young people today are under a lot of stress. We need your support to organize projects just like "Be a Healthy and Happy Person" so that more young people can learn to manage their stress properly. Do call the Partnership and Resource
Development Office on 2123 9598 to explore collaboration.

The obsession of losing weight is deeply rooted in young women in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong. A survey was conducted by a beauty salon in January 2004 via the MSN website, interviewing 6,000 female in Hong Kong, the Mainland, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Among the 1,736 Hong Kong respondents, 57% said that they were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with their physical appearance. 30% of the Hong Kong respondents gave a higher priority to a slim body than health, career and romance. This proportion is higher than that of other Asian countries. 70% of the Hong Kong respondents were under the age of 25.

Youth head North for Illegal Drugs

The Action Committee Against Narcotics commissioned the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to investigate the situation of young people going north of the border to acquire illegal drugs from May 2002 to December 2003. Among the 6,420 youth respondents aged 18-30, 20% admitted that they had abused drugs in the Mainland at least once a year. The main attractions of going north included the cheaper price of drugs, the ease in obtaining drugs and peer influence.

In early March 2004, Caritas-Hong Kong released a survey on the situation of family financial education in Hong Kong. 531 parents and their children aged 8-18 were interviewed via telephone. Over 40% of the parents admitted that they had not taught their children about financial management and how to be money wise. The primary hindrance was their own lack of financial knowledge.