More play, less work makes for more talented children, according to speakers at a seminar on cultivating and attracting talent held in Hong Kong.

Participants at "The face of Hong Kong's Future Work Force" seminar held on Friday offered some ideas for cultivating, tapping and attracting talent, South China Morning post reported Saturday.

The ideas include sending all university students overseas for a year, cutting classroom hours, introducing more team sports for children, getting parents to stop outsourcing their responsibilities for children and other suggestions.

The participants believed that all these can help foster confident young people who are key to the competitive workhorse that Hong Kong needs.

Chandran Nair, founder and chief executive of the Asia-based think tank Global Institute for Tomorrow, suggested that school hours for children aged seven to 12 be limited, and that they should be encouraged to spend at least an hour a day in team sports.

He said many Hong Kong students lack confidence and could not articulate their views, adding they need to experience the rough and tumble of growing up.

He said about 95 percent of local university students failed his company's oral and written exams.

Rachel Cartland, former assistant director of social security, said her prescription for the overprotected youth was to send every university student overseas for a year "coping on his or her own, learning how to live and take initiative".

The seminar was jointly organized by the University of Hong Kong and South China Morning Post and supported by the Citigroup Foundation.

Source: Xinhua