HONG KONG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The expenditure on national education for primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong rose from 35.3 million HK dollars (about 4.53 million U.S. dollars) in 2007-08 to an estimate of 95.7 million HK dollars in 2011-12, the city's Secretary for Education Michael Suen said Wednesday.

Suen told lawmakers on Wednesday that of the 95.7 million HK dollars, about 7.6 million HK dollars was used for teachers' professional development, 30.1 million HK dollars for developing learning and teaching resources, and 58 million HK dollars for organizing cross-boundary exchange and learning activities for students and teachers.

Suen said national education activities aim to help students gain a comprehensive understanding of the motherland from different perspectives and provide students with holistic learning experiences.

"For example, the objective of learning and exchange activities in the Mainland is to provide opportunities for students to understand the national situation through first-hand experience in four dimensions, namely, natural resources, humanities, history and contemporary development," he said.

The bureau's spending on Mainland exchange activities increased from 12 million HK dollars in 2008-09 to an estimated 58 million HK dollars in 2011-12, with the number of participating students expected to go up from 10,340 to 42,700 over the same period. (1 U. S. dollar = 7.791 HK dollars)