Hong Kong Education Bureau has partnered with the Environmental Protection Department to launch the Computer Recycling Program in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years to help needy students gain access to computers and the Internet, an official said on Wednesday.

Hong Kong Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung Wednesday told lawmakers the department will help provide refurbished computers to needy students while the bureau will arrange a one-year free Internet access service for them.

After the initial year of free service, the designated Internet service provider will continue to offer them a favorable Internet access service plan. The program is tentatively scheduled to commence in early 2009.

Students from families receiving social security are entitled to a full range of special grants to meet their educational expenses, Cheung reiterated.

The bureau has granted a recurrent subsidy to all primary and secondary schools since the 1999-2000 school year to encourage them to open computer rooms and facilities for students' after- school use.

Free computers and Internet facilities are also available to students at youth centers, community centers and public libraries, Cheung added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)