In October 2002, the Sustainable Development Division (SDD) launched a School Outreach Programme with the aim of raising awareness among young people of the issue of sustainable development. The programme sought to engage upper-form secondary school students in considering issues related to our sustainability, and included an exhibition and interactive presentations in schools. Specifically, the programme aimed to -

• Introduce the concept of sustainable development to students;
• Raise students' awareness of the importance of sustainable development; and
• Encourage students to consider how they might contribute to sustainable development in their daily lives.

In the first phase of the programme, which was completed in January 2003, we visited 22 secondary schools and made presentations to about 8,000 students and 200 teachers. The response from the students was generally positive and constructive.

We visited 6 secondary schools in the second phase of the programme from March to June 2003. The reduced coverage of this phase resulted from the SARS outbreak during this period. About 800 students and teachers participated in the programme.

To ensure that students could continue to be introduced to the concept of sustainable development, we launched the third phase of the programme in September 2003 for completion in January 2004. In this phase, we visited 16 secondary schools and reached 3,700 students and 120 teachers.

In the fourth phase of the programme, which ran from October 2005 to May 2006, we visited 65 schools and made presentations to about 22,075 students.

The fifth phase of the program will run from October 2006 to May 2007. 42 secondary schools have expressed interests to join. For enquiry, please contact Miss Wong at 3150 8198.