The Social Welfare Department (SWD) increased the number of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) places by 1 000 to the total of about 10 000 places on 1 September 2022 and the number of kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KGs/KG-cum-CCCs) joining the services has also been updated. Eligible OPRS applicants who are attending/going to attend the KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs newly joined OPRS can update their KGs/KG-cum-CCCs information in the Central Referral System of SWD through their referring workers on or after 1 September 2022. The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs has been uploaded onto this webpage.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) announced today (September 1) the regularisation of the Pilot Project on Tier 1 Support Services in Kindergartens (KGs)/Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres (KG-cum-CCCs) (Tier 1 Pilot Project) in the 2023/24 school year and its integration with the On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS).

To strengthen support for pre-school children with special needs, the SWD implemented a 37-month Tier 1 Pilot Project in the 2020/21 school year. Early intervention services are provided for children who are awaiting assessment by Child Assessment Centres (CACs) under the Department of Health (DH), or assessed by CACs to have borderline developmental problems.

In view of the satisfactory results, the Government has allocated additional resources to regularise the Tier 1 Support Services and extend them to cover nearly 900 pre-primary institutions. The Services will also be integrated with OPRS, which support pre-school children with mild disabilities, to offer comprehensive and appropriate assistance to pre‑school children with different levels of special needs, their teachers and parents through interdisciplinary service teams under a school-based and integrated approach.

The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs has been uploaded onto this webpage.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) increased the number of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) places by 1 000 to the total of about 10 000 places on 1 September 2022 and the number of kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KGs/KG-cum-CCCs) joining the services has also been updated. Eligible OPRS applicants who are attending/going to attend the KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs newly joined OPRS can update their KGs/KG-cum-CCCs information in the Central Referral System of SWD through their referring workers on or after 1 September 2022. The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs has been uploaded onto this webpage.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) increased the number of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) places by 1 000 to the total of about 9 000 places on 1 September 2021 and the number of kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KGs/KG-cum-CCCs) joining the services has also been increased. Eligible OPRS applicants who are attending/going to attend the KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs newly joined OPRS can update their KGs/KG-cum-CCCs information in the Central Referral System of SWD through their referring workers on or after 1 September 2021. The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs has been uploaded onto this webpage.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) increased the number of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) places by 1 000 to the total of about 8 000 places on 1 September 2020 and the number of kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KGs/KG-cum-CCCs) joining the services has also been increased. Eligible OPRS applicants who are attending/going to attend the KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs newly joined OPRS can update their KGs/KG-cum-CCCs information in the Central Referral System of SWD through their referring workers on or after 1 September 2020. The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs has been uploaded onto this webpage.

Social Welfare Department has commissioned a consulting team formed by the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences of City University of Hong Kong and the Department of Educational Psychology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to conduct a Longitudinal Study in 2019/20 school year on the performance and adjustment of children discharged from On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services to Primary One, thereby exploring how to provide these children with appropriate bridging and support services. The Consulting Team has conducted engagement sessions on the Longitudinal Study to stakeholders concerned on 21.9.2019.

The service places of On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) will be increased from around 5 000 to 7 000 on 1 October 2019 and the number of Kindergartens/Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres (KGs/KG-cum-CCCs) joining the services will also be increased. Eligible OPRS applicants who are attending/going to attend the KGs/ KG-cum-CCCs newly joined OPRS can update their KGs/KG-cum-CCCs information in the Central Referral System of the Social Welfare Department through their referring workers on or after 1 October 2019. The updated list of KGs/KG-cum-CCCs will be uploaded to this webpage in late September 2019.

A total of 21 non-governmental organisations as listed below will operate OPRS in October 2019:

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has earlier invited eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to submit proposals to operate an additional 2 000 service places upon regularisation of OPRS. A total of 41 proposals were received and a Vetting Committee was set up to conduct assessment of the proposals. Upon the recommendation of the Committee, SWD has selected the following 18 NGOs to operate the additional service places of OPRS upon service regularisation:

Service teams operated by the awarded NGOs will commence services with effect from 1 October 2018.

Recognising the importance of early intervention for pre-school children with special needs, the Government launched the Pilot Scheme on On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (Pilot Scheme on OPRS) in phases from November 2015 onwards, with a view to enabling pre-school children with special needs to receive necessary on-site training early in the prime learning period. With the Pilot Scheme delivering notable preliminary results, the Government had decided to regularise the Pilot Scheme, upon its completion, from the 2018/19 school year. The Pilot Scheme will come to an end and, similar to existing subvented pre-school rehabilitation services, applications and selections of placement will then be handled by the Central Referral System for Rehabilitation Services Subsystem for Disabled Pre-schoolers (CRSRehab-PS). Transitional measures related to the regularisation of OPRS are hereby announced as follows:

1. OPRS operators are allowed, subject to the availability of vacancy of each project team, to reserve OPRS placement in the new school year 2018/19 for the OPRS applicants on their waiting lists who are recruited on or before 30.9.2018. Such OPRS applicants, may choose to accept the OPRS placement and keep waitlisting for EETC/IP, provided that no EETC/IP placement for the new school year have been allocated by CRSRehab-PS. Also, we welcome OPRS applicants who admitted to OPRS in the new school year to surrender their applications for EETC/IP in the central waiting list so as to benefit more applicants under CRSRehab-PS.

2. For OPRS applicants accepted to use OPRS in the new school year but are allocated EETC/IP placement before or after their admission to OPRS, they shall follow the existing requirements to make a final decision whether to choose OPRS or EETC/IP as their long-term placement in the new school year.

3. OPRS applicants waitlisting for SCCC shall only take OPRS as a transitional service in the new school year, provided that no SCCC placement has been allocated by CRSRehab-PS for the new school year. Applications for transitional EETC, if any, will be closed upon their admission to transitional OPRS. Those selected for admission to SCCC shall accept SCCC placement, regardless of the fact that they are receiving OPRS in the new school year or not.

Parent/guardians are welcome to contact your service operators for further enquiries on the transitional measures.