News
Thematic Mainland Exchange Programme for Primary and Secondary School Students (2024/25) (5)
Summary
This circular memorandum invites primary and secondary schools (including special schools) to nominate Primary 4 to 6 and Secondary 3 to 5 students and teachers (including principals) to participate in the captioned programmes. Relevant information will also be sent to schools via the “Fast Information Transmission System - School Messaging Module” (SMM).
Details
The Education Bureau (EDB) organises “Thematic Mainland Exchange Programmes for Primary and Secondary School Students (2024/25) (5)” (the Programmes). In line with the school curriculum, the Programmes aims at providing different learning experiences for students to enhance their understanding of the history, culture and social development etc. in the Mainland (including Beijing and Shijiazhuang), thereby enhancing their sense of national identity.
The EDB has commissioned service providers to organise three tours outside the Guangdong Province, ranging from four to five days, for Primary 4 to 6 and Secondary 3 to 5 students. Please refer to Annex 1 (Chinese version only) for details of the Programmes and application procedures, and Annex 2 (Chinese version only) for the itineraries of respective tours.
Schools should proactively encourage students who have not joined any Mainland exchange programmes before to participate in at least one subsidised Mainland exchange programme (MEP) in their primary and secondary stages. In addition, starting from 10 July 2024, non-Chinese citizens who are permanent residents of Hong Kong may apply for the “Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Permanent Residents (Non-Chinese Citizens)” from the China Travel Service Entry Permit Service Hong Kong Limited. Schools should remind eligible students to complete the application procedures soon so that they can use the E-channels at ports of entry for immigration clearance and need not fill in the Arrival Card when entering the Mainland, thus enhancing clearance efficiency. For details, please refer to the respective webpage (https://www.ctshk.com/mep/zh/nrep_notice_mep/).
Schools may apply for more than one tour in the 2024/25 school year. Each school can nominate at most four groups of partcipants per tour (each group consists of 10 students and 1 teacher). Interested schools are requested to return the completed application form (Chinese version only) to the Life-wide Learning and Mainland Exchange Section 2 of the EDB by email before the respective deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Starting from the 2024/25 school year, schools will receive the latest itinerary information and application details of MEPs for students via the SMM. During the transitional period, the EDB will continue to issue individual Circular Memoranda on MEPs and adjust relevant arrangements based on actual circumstances.
Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact the Life-wide Learning and Mainland Exchange Section 2 of the EDB on 2892 6432 (for the trip of BSB) or 2892 6543 (for the trips of BJS, BJHA and BJHB). For more information about MEPs, please visit the “Passing on the Torch” website (https://www.passontorch.org.hk/en/index.html).
For further details of the Scheme, please refer to the Education Bureau Circular Memorandum No. 222/2024. (Download)
Download
"Passing on the Torch Platform" Programme Series: An Exploration into the History and Traditional Culture in Beijing and Shijiazhuang (2024/25) - Application form (Chinese version only) [download]
"Passing on the Torch Platform" Programme Series: An Exploration into the History Culture and Social Development in Beijing (2024/25) - Application form (Chinese version only) [download]
An Exploration into the History and Traditional Culture in Beijing (2024/25) (Tour A) - Application form (Chinese version only) [download]
An Exploration into the History and Traditional Culture in Beijing (2024/25) (Tour B) - Application form (Chinese version only) [download]