The Education Bureau today announced the release of the Primary Education Curriculum Guide (2024) prepared by the Curriculum Development Council for schools' implementation in the 2024-25 school year.

The guide aims to further optimise the whole-school curriculum planning and promote students' whole-person development.

In line with major developments in education, the guide not only carries content echoing the optimised 12 priority values and attitudes, but also enriched recommendations on patriotic education as well as optimised recommendations on school assessment and assignment policies.

To tie in with the introduction of Primary Humanities and Primary Science in the 2025-26 school year, the guide has also updated the suggested lesson time allocation for each key learning area or subject and the flexible lesson time, in addition to providing new examples of good use of learning time.

The bureau explained that the guide specifically puts forward recommendations to optimise school assessment and assignment policies, to create more space for fostering students’ balanced physical and psychological development.

They include giving appropriate self-learning tasks instead of written assignments during long holidays, avoiding arranging tests or examinations immediately after long holidays, and arranging a tutorial session in the afternoon as far as possible.

The guide also recommends primary schools to collect stakeholders’ views on the school assessment policy at least once per school year and formulate a mechanism in school to co-ordinate the time arrangement of assessments and the amount of homework, the bureau added.

To promote the guide, the bureau continues to develop diversified modes of resources, including a video series, the "Little Seedling" comics series, school resources packages, and featured articles in Smart Parent Net, with a new promotional video to be launched in the coming school year.

It will also continue organising onsite workshops for teachers to support schools' implementation of the guide.