Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung today presented certificates to awardees under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Scholarship Fund and the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund for the 2018-19 academic year.

Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, Mr Yeung said the number of scholarships would be increased to further support the development of education from the 2019-20 academic year.

Singhal Sparsh, a Hong Kong University of Science & Technology student and an Outstanding Performance Scholarship awardee, said the award enables him to take part in different activities.

“For example, we have also started our own company and we are trying to raise funding, and all this creativity comes because I don’t have to think about money as much as I would have.”

Another awardee Janet Kung is an ice climbing athlete. She hopes the scholarship will help her participate in more competitions.

“I hope this scholarship can let me have more training outside Hong Kong with other countries’ athletes, improve more and represent Hong Kong to join the UIAA ice climbing competition.”

The total value of scholarships and awards, distributed to around 6,700 students, amounted to about $146 million.

In addition, the scholarship fund has reserved about $32 million for the Talent Development Scholarship and the Reaching Out Award.