P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme

 Introduction 
 
To promote holistic development among adolescents in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust approved HK$400 million in 2004 for the 4-year project entitled 'P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme' - (P.A.T.H.S.), in collaboration with the Research Team, Social Welfare Department and Education Bureau (former Education and Manpower Bureau). Since its inception in the 2005/06 school year, more than 200 secondary schools with a total number of 107 000 students benefited from the Project. The Project has also been extended to special schools since 2006/07 school year (Note). The Research Team led by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (formerly led by The Chinese University of Hong Kong until 30 June 2009), which included academics from five universities in Hong Kong, developed an evidence-based and multi-year universal positive youth devleopment programme. Multi-facet evaluations consistently showed that different stakeholders (including students, teachers and social workers) had positive views towards the Project and considered Tier 1 and Tier 2 programmes beneficial to the positive development of the participants. Moreover, P.A.T.H.S. has further gained recognition in the international academic and professional communities through organization of an international symposium, publication of evaluation results in various international peer-reviewed journals, and running related pilot projects outside Hong Kong, such as Shanghai and Singapore. 

In view of the support and recognition from the education sector and all the stakeholders, and the proven effectiveness of P.A.T.H.S. by different modes of evaluation, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has decided to fund the Project for another cycle, from the 2009/10 to 2011/12 school years, to enable the participating schools to consolidate the implementation experiences. The participating schools are encouraged to integrate the Tier 1 Programme into their school curriculum for junior secondary levels, hence facilitating the holistic and healthy development of young people.

(Note: Special schools adopting mainstream curriculum could modify the program content and activities of the Tier 1 Programme to suit the needs of their students.)