Narrowing the digital divide is never an endeavor that can be accomplished by a single department, a single grant, or a few pieces of hardware. It requires long-term investment, institutional design, and cross-sectoral collaboration. International Day for Women and Girls to Participate in Science and Technology reminds us that the future of technology should not belong to only a few; and the education sector reminds us that if institutional disparities between schools and teachers are not addressed early, the so-called "digital transformation" will ultimately only exacerbate inequality.
February 11th is a pivotal day for society to reflect on issues related to science and technology education and digital education. It is International Day for Women and Girls to Participate in Science and Technology, aiming to promote the full and equal participation of women and girls in education, training, employment, and decision-making processes in the science field. The nation has always paid close attention to this work. President Xi Jinping, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Global Women's Summit, emphasized "seizing the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and empowering the high-quality development of women's causes through technological innovation," demonstrating the nation's responsibility as a major power and responding to a crucial mission of our time. Beyond analyzing through a gender framework, various aspects of the digital divide exist in society. Hong Kong has both the necessity and the capability to integrate into and serve the overall development of the nation, deepen cooperation networks with the mainland, and share resources in the fields of science and education to achieve mutual benefit.
The nation is committed to supporting women in scientific research.
As early as 2021, thirteen departments, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, jointly issued "Several Measures to Support Women in Scientific and Technological Innovation to Play a Greater Role," aiming to stimulate the innovative vitality of women in scientific and technological fields. These measures focused on cultivating high-level women in science and technology, improving evaluation and incentive mechanisms, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, creating a women-friendly environment for growth and development. After years of effort, the country has achieved remarkable results. According to statistics from 2024, the number of female scientific and technological personnel in the country exceeded 40 million, accounting for more than 45.1% of the total workforce, approaching gender equality. Among research and experimental development personnel nationwide, the number of women has also increased significantly from approximately 1.1 million in 2012 to nearly 2.9 million. These figures clearly demonstrate the continuous improvement of the gender structure of the country's scientific and technological talent pool.
Women play a vital role in Hong Kong's higher education system, with many scientists enjoying international renown. For example, Professor Nancy Ip, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is an internationally renowned neurobiologist and the first Hong Kong resident to receive the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award; Professor Wong Sau-kuen of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is the first female physician-scientist in China to be selected as a "New Cornerstone Research Fellow"; and the University of Hong Kong topped the list of China in Research.com's latest "Global Women in Research Leaders Ranking," boasting the highest number of top female researchers in the country. In the future research talent development system of primary and secondary schools, many women are making their mark on the Hong Kong and national stages. This demonstrates that Hong Kong possesses ample resources and a favorable environment to further contribute to the nation's science and education development.
Professor Wang Xiaoli, a researcher at the National Academy of Governance, once wrote that the country attaches great importance to the continuous cultivation of female scientific and technological talents, and strives to help achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening through "her power". Many public welfare projects and exchange platforms, such as "Science with Her - Girls Love Science", are constantly being built, which is exactly where Hong Kong can contribute.I suggest that the government should take the lead in establishing a "Science and Technology Innovation Empowerment Women Task Force" that includes science and technology professionals at different levels, such as colleges, universities, primary and secondary schools.In cooperation with national ministries and various social forces, we will connect Hong Kong’s experience and resources in cultivating outstanding female science and technology talents with the mainland, so that Hong Kong’s strength can benefit the country where it is needed, and deepen the practical ability of science and education professionals. Through cross-border cooperation, we will continue to explore more diversified and creative science and education solutions.
Overcoming the digital divide in educational resources
When discussing the digital divide, we might quickly think of the generational gap in technological application capabilities or the disparity in technological infrastructure between regions and urban/rural areas. However, at a recent Legislative Council meeting, legislator Wong Kam-leung raised the issue that "there are significant differences in the promotion of digital education among schools, and frontline teachers also vary in their confidence and ability to use digital technology in teaching." This reflects a digital divide in educational resources and teacher teaching abilities, hindering the comprehensive rollout of a high-quality science and technology education network. In fact, aside from the teacher professional development framework or designated promotion training courses mentioned by the Secretary for Education, Sichuan Province has provided Hong Kong with very advanced experience that can be emulated, demonstrating how to comprehensively improve teacher teaching levels and allow students to enjoy equal access to high-quality science and technology education resources through the sharing of educational resources between regions.
As early as 2019, the "Sichuan Cloud Education" live-streaming classroom platform was launched, enabling dozens of host schools to serve hundreds of receiving schools, providing live streaming and remote interactive teaching across all subjects. In recent years, Sichuan Province has also continued to promote the "Network Chain Sharing Plan," which allows different schools to form a network chain teaching alliance. This initiative encourages hundreds of schools to conduct teaching experiments on the same platform, such as generating AI-assisted micro-lessons, creating AI-powered classroom challenge web pages, and generating AI-assisted literature reviews. These experiences will be compiled into AI teaching resource packages, allowing all schools within the alliance to progress together.In my opinion, Hong Kong can learn from this experience and promote the formation of "science and education alliances" among different schools.The aim is to leverage the role of "using schools with abundant teaching resources to drive the development of schools with scarce teaching resources" and to explore pilot projects for cross-border sharing of educational resources in the short term through alliances with schools in different regions such as Sichuan Province, in order to support Hong Kong schools in overcoming the gap in educational resources.
Let the next generation master the upper class
Narrowing the digital divide is never an endeavor that can be accomplished by a single department, a single grant, or a few pieces of hardware. It requires long-term investment, institutional design, and cross-sectoral collaboration. International Day for Women and Girls to Participate in Science and Technology reminds us that the future of technology should not belong to only a few; and the education sector reminds us that if institutional disparities between schools and teachers are not addressed early, the so-called "digital transformation" will ultimately only exacerbate inequality.
If Hong Kong can more proactively integrate into the overall development of the country in the field of science and education, and advance along two lines of talent cultivation through "her power" and resource sharing through the "science and education alliance", it can transform local advantages into disseminated public capabilities on the one hand, and on the other hand, respond to the issues that citizens care about most in serving the country: ensuring that children from different backgrounds are not excluded from the future too early because of which school they attend or which teacher they encounter.
