Education experts expect Chief Executive Donald Tsang's final policy address on Wednesday to lay out long-term plans, allocating more recurrent funding to education.

Quality education relies heavily on the dedication of teachers, said Vice-President Wong Wai-shing of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers.

"However, salary inequality is prevalent between teachers with degrees and those without in primary and secondary schools," said Wong.

Degree holders and non-degree holders receive differential pay for doing the same job, which is unfair to those without degrees and seriously affects the morale of teaching professionals, Wong said.

At present, about half of primary school teachers have bachelor degrees, while 85 percent of secondary school teachers are degree graduates.

"Upgrading teaching education to degree level for all teachers is crucial and the government should increase funding to schools so that they have the ability to hire degree holders," Wong said.

Meanwhile, educators believe additional resources should be allocated to students having different, specific learning needs. That includes minorities who need help to integrate into mainstream schools, Wong said.

The absence of qualified psychologists stationed at the schools prevents the schools from singling out students in need, Wong said.

"Owing to insufficient psychologists specializing in the education sector and lower student intake until numbers start to rise again in 2016, it's high time the teachers pursued psychology studies - and it will eventually benefit the schools," Wong said.

Minority students, on the other hand, are in need of after-school support for learning Chinese to help them better integrate into the society since the proficiency of the language is required in most fields.

"Minority students face great difficulty in studying Chinese at classes under the conventional curriculum; extra tutorials thus become necessary for them to catch up with their local peers," Wong added.

As for tertiary education, lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong proposed that the government increase university placements to a level equal to the numbers of students qualified for admission to universities.

"Universities will have to turn away at least 5,000 applications if 20,000 students fulfill the enrollment benchmarks of universities, according to the forecast of the Education Bureau," he said.

At present, degree programs offered by the eight publicly funded universities accommodate 15,000 students in the 2012-13 academic year, accounting for 18 percent of students - an increase from the previous 14,500.

"The discrepancy of university places between demand and supply is particularly acute in Hong Kong which may stir up social conflicts," Cheung said.

"If the demand for more university places cannot be met in a short period, the government should finance qualified students to attend private tertiary institutes."

Cheung said 15 years of free education for students is at the top of his wish list for this year's policy address, because "it rests with the government to provide children with even preschool education so that children can start their learning competition on an equal footing at the early stage".