The Youth Internship Program at Wolong National Nature Reserve launched on Tuesday, with Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing officiating at the opening ceremony. Funded by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and co-organized by Ocean Park, the internship gives a group of young people from Hong Kong and Guangdong province a rare chance to gain conservation knowledge in Sichuan's panda bases. The precious experience and valuable knowledge acquired by the youngsters during their internship in Wolong will go a long way, for sure, in helping them develop their careers when they start working in the near future.

There is nothing unusual about the latest public-funded internship program except that it is both a manifestation and part of the SAR government's stepped-up efforts to tackle problems young people in the city now face in education, career development and housing. Indeed, the new administration led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made youth development one of its top policy priorities.

This is in line with the global trend. Youth development has become an integral part of the global development agenda promoted by the United Nations - understandably because the youth are the future as well as the most valuable assets of any society. For a society to achieve sustainable development and long-lasting prosperity, it must give full play to the unlimited energy, vitality and creativity of young people by providing them with a suitable stage - a favorable environment for living and career development. But of greater importance and more relevance to Hong Kong is that tackling the problems faced by our youth will help remove their grievances, ease social discontent and mend the torn social fabric.

Politicians have the old habit of making a long list of promises before their election for the sake of political expediency. But Lam's new administration has started to take concrete actions to prove that its pledge of youth development is not mere lip service, but genuine commitment.

The proposal to appropriate an extra HK$5 billion in recurring budget for education is a testament to the new administration's sincerity for and commitment to helping the youth achieve a better future. High school graduates who have achieved the minimum requirements for local undergraduate programs and apply for self-financing degree programs will receive a HK$30,000 grant each in the coming university term if the Legislative Council approves the first part of the additional funding for education within this month.

It is believed the additional funding for education is just the first in a series of measures the government will take to help the youth secure a better future.

With the new administration having decided to highlight youth development in its five-year term, as mentioned by Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung in a gathering with the media last Wednesday, it is expected that more concrete actions will be achieved as the government pushes ahead with its work schedule.

(HK Edition 07/19/2017 page8)