Hong Kong Island Region has launched a major programme for youths to spend their upcoming summer holidays in a more meaningful way.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the programme, Happy and Healthy Summer Holidays, Hong Kong Island Regional Commander Hung Hak-wai stressed that the Force is, like other organisations, very concerned about the problems youths had encountered.

"We hope that the next generation will be able to grow up happily in a healthy environment, but each summer holiday the police have received reports of students falling into traps while finding summer jobs, and suffering financial losses as a result. There have also been cases of students eager to make some fast bucks being exploited to engage in vice and drugs-peddling activities," he said.

Mr Hung pointed out that the summer holiday programme would introduce to parents and students the services provided by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dedicated to serving the youth, such as assistance for finding employment, psychological counselling and summer holiday activities.

"It's hoped that through the programme, parents will be reminded to provide proper guidance and assistance for their children and work out a meaningful plan for their summer holiday," said Mr Hung when he appealed to parents to encourage their children to take part in healthy summer holiday activities and to prevent them from falling preys to summer job scam or associating with drugs.

"I hope that after the programme we'll be able to forge a partnership with the organisations participating in the programme to prevent juvenile delinquency," Mr Hung concluded.

More than 20 NGOs have participated in this successful event. Representatives of these organisations have promised to support the crime prevention event to be organised by the HKI Region in future.

The summer programme goes off with a bang