Education: How to prepare young people for the future

According to the World Talent Report published by Switzerland-based IMD in November last year, Hong Kong lost the first place in Asia, getting beaten by Singapore. With the report stirring much public discussion, I wish to make two observations:Hong Kong ranked 56th globally in the list of “total public expenditure on education” as the city’s public expenditure on education amounted to only a low percentage in GDP. The figure was at 3.3 percent, even lower compared to that of Kazakhstan, which stood at 3.6 percent.However, there are other countries with public expenditure on education representing a similarly low percentage in GDP, such as Singapore (2.8 percent, ranked 60th), and Japan (3.3 percent, ranked 57th). But according to OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests science, mathematics and reading ability of 15-year-old students from 72 economies around the world once every three years, Singapore was the champion in all the categories in the previous assessment, while Hong Kong and Japan secured the second place.