President, some members of the community opine that Hong Kong's industries are homogenous, and as a result, there is a lack of pathways for young people. I do not agree with this saying.

Given Hong Kong's low unemployment rate in recent years, young people should have no cause for concern about their pathways. As long as they are willing to work, they must be able to secure employment. Nonetheless, ordinary parents whose mentality has been shaped by traditional concepts are reluctant to see their children engage in blue-collar jobs. In some industries with manpower shortage, such as the hotel, construction, logistics and nursing trades, employers have been unable to recruit adequate staff despite the fact that the pay of their workers is generally not less than that of a university graduate working as a clerk. From this we can see that the problem is not about remuneration or a lack of pathways; rather, it is about people's mindset.

In Hong Kong, young people looking for jobs or making career choices usually find themselves in one of the following three situations: first, they are university degree holders hoping to find white-collar jobs with good prospects corresponding to their academic qualifications; second, they have undergone vocational training and managed to enter the corresponding trades for work; and third, they have joined the workforce without high academic qualifications or after graduating from secondary schools to accumulate work experience over time. As I see it, the young people in the first of the three situations mentioned above are facing the most serious problem. Just think: every year there are tens of thousands of university graduates, including those returning from overseas, and the vast majority of them hope to find white-collar jobs with good prospects in large enterprises or government departments, but as the number of jobs meeting their expectations is limited, there is an obvious imbalance between supply and demand in this regard. Under the circumstances, their job search will easily meet with setbacks in that "they are unfit for higher posts but unwilling to take lower ones", so to speak, and they themselves and their parents will certainly feel gloomy and helpless about their prospects, and even bear grudges against society and the Government. The Government would be making a big mistake if it thought that it could resolve the problem with students' pathways by merely acceding to the demand of parents and students for a continuous increase in university places, or even introducing associate degree programmes which do not have high recognition. Any attempt to increase these places is purely a move to delay the problem with youngsters' pathways until a few years later. Failing to match them with corresponding jobs after their graduation will still be a factor contributing to social instability. 

President, to resolve the aforesaid problem, we must, first of all, change people's mindset, debunk the idea that university graduation is the only key to success, and endeavour to enhance the recognition of vocational education. Only by doing so can we change the traditional concepts in society, and dispel the misconceptions and misgivings of students and parents alike about vocational education. I recommend the Government to conduct a comprehensive survey to compare university graduates with vocational education graduates in Hong Kong for the past few years in terms of the length of time between graduation and employment, income, job satisfaction, and so on, thereby enabling the community to get a better understanding of conventional education and vocational education through the comparison of such data.

Second, we must increase senior secondary students' options for vocational education. The success of the dual-track systems in Germany and Switzerland lies in their students' freedom to opt for vocational education when they enter the senior secondary stage. Students of the vocational schools there not only have to study the relevant major subjects at certain times of the week, but also have to study basic arts and science subjects at other times of the week. This serves to enhance the recognition of senior secondary school leavers who have received vocational education, putting them on a par with students of conventional universities; they absolutely do not give others the impression of being inferior.

At present, Hong Kong's school curriculums focus on academic training, and the goal of our students is to go to university. If they fail to obtain good results in the public examination at the senior secondary level, there are not many disciplines for them to choose from for further studies. In order to gain access to university education, they will grudgingly go for disciplines that they are not interested in or even unpopular disciplines, and end up wasting a few years' time and missing the best opportunity to imbibe knowledge. Only when they look for jobs will they realize that the pathways available for their disciplines are limited, and they will thus be rendered helpless. With a growing number of university graduates, the problem will become increasingly severe. Therefore, it is indeed imperative that, university education aside, vocational education programmes should be promoted without delay, so as to allow secondary school leavers more choices. I suggest that the Government may consider identifying in each district one or two secondary schools with rich experience in certain subjects as well as relatively suitable teachers and equipment, and allocating more resources to help them reposition their school curriculums, reformulate the entry requirements for students, forge links with universities and professional institutes to open up more avenues for students to pursue further studies, and, through collaboration with enterprises, provide students with more internship and employment opportunities. Meanwhile, the Government should explore setting up a system with recognition by incorporating subjects within the framework of vocational education into the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, so as to increase students' choices.

Third, the Government may consider introducing vocational education subjects tailored for promising industries with competitive edges in Hong Kong, so as to increase employment pathways for graduates.

The tourism industry is a case in point. For instance, the plans to develop Lantau Island alone include proposals for the three-runway system at the airport, the Phase 2 development of Hong Kong Disneyland, the East Lantau business district, the South Lantau resort area, the Phase 2 expansion of AsiaWorld-Expo, and so on. These are projects with keen demand for manpower in such sectors as logistics, aviation, convention and exhibition, tourism, and hotel management. If there are corresponding vocational schools to supply the manpower needed by these projects upon their commissioning one after another, students will naturally have no worries about their pathways, and enterprises will be able to secure suitable talents.

President, I hope that this debate can draw the authorities' attention and prompt them to put forward practical and feasible plans for vocational education.

President, I so submit.