000316^. G.F. 316
SCR 20/581/67
SECRET
PROGRESS REPORT
SCHOOLS IN KOWLOON WALLED CITY
This report relates to a special meeting held on 4th November to consider possible action on unregistered schools in the Walled City.
6/2/1
General Policy Towards the Walled City
The Committee was informed by Defence Secretary that:-
(a) No major new assertion of Government authority in the Walled City is contemplated. Government already asserts its authority by the prosecution of criminal offences committed in the area, and by the provision of certain services;
(b)
The programme of clearance and resettlement for areas on the periphery, which will be carried out over the next five years, will gradually isolate the remaining nucleus of the Walled City. No redevelopment of the city itself is contemplated before the completion of the peripheral development, but planning for it will probably begin in 1971. Meanwhile, Government is setting up machinery to prepare a contingency plan to take advantage of a major disaster in the Walled City area, to intervene on a large scale. This might affect schools
adjacent to the disaster area.
(c) It was considered possible that one exception to the
policy of no major change in the Walled City might be the problem of unregistered schools there. On the one hand, criticism might be levelled against Government in the event of a fire-disaster involving the death of children while, on the other, the communists might find it difficult to defend their position if Government sought to take action against their schools on grounds of safety.
Possible Courses of Action over Schools
2.
Director of Education and Director of Fire Services confirmed that no school in the area is registrable. Fire Service requirements for means of escape and areas of dispersal for occupants of the buildings cannot be met. In addition, the buildings themselves do not meet the requirements of the Building Authority. Some marginal improvement from the safety point of view might be achieved by a reduction of the number of children using a building, but the schools are, and will remain, illegal.
3.
If the action were to be initiated against illegal schools, it would seem practical to proceed first against the school or schools operating in the premises considered most unsafe.
SECRET
15.