Some 30 principals, educationalists, and leading entrepreneurs took a front-row seat at The Peninsula Hong Kong Hotel to cook up and digest pioneering initiatives for early childhood education, keeping abreast of the city’s latest developments in the field.

With Hong Kong’s resolution to beef up its high-caliber talent base and unprecedented wave of technological innovation opening windows to local talent nurturing, the newest edition of China Daily Mastermind Roundtable gathered a mix of stakeholders in education to dive into the theme of Addressing Hong Kong's Talent Gap Through Strategic Early Childhood Education Initiatives, aiming to inject new momentum into the cultivation of a new future-ready generation.

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In her opening remarks, Christine Choi Yuk-lin, secretary for education of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, detailed the government’s various endeavors to deliver high-quality and affordable kindergarten education, recognized by her as “one of the core factors in attracting global talent to pursue development in Hong Kong.”

Zhou Li, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily Group, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Hong Kong, and chairman of Asia Leadership Roundtable, also highlighted the weight early childhood carries regarding a person’s personal development, saying that it is a critical period for fostering one’s cognitive, emotional, and social capacities and where learning habits that last for a lifetime will form.

Organized by the China Daily Hong Kong, the China Daily Mastermind Roundtable is committed to serving as a platform for local leaders to deliberate on pressing social issues and set the ball rolling for concrete actions and collaborations. Among previously addressed subjects include sustainable tourism and hospitality and Hong Kong’s role in the global financial market.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com