The Education Department
Education in Hong Kong
The Director of Education is Head of the Education Department and responsible for proposing new policies and implementing approved policies.
He is assisted by a Deputy Director who is responsible for the general organisation, supervision and co-ordination of the work of the various branches of the Department.
The Department is divided into six main branches each headed by an Assistant Director. These are as follows: Primary, Secondary, Further and Technical, Development and the Inspectorate, and the recently established Educational Television Unit.
1.
2.
3.
Primary The administration of primary education involves a division of the Colony into five areas each area being looked after by a team of officers headed by a Senior Education Officer. Each area is subdivided into educational districts. The Assistant Director (Primary) is res- ponsible for the overall supervision and co-ordination of the work of the various areas. (See fig. 1) as well as for special schools, i.e. those catering for handicapped children.
Secondary This section deals with the government, aided and subsidised secondary schools.
Further and Technical includes teacher training, adult education and technical education.
4.
Development
5.
This section deals with the school building programme, registration, statistics and publications.
Inspectorate includes advisory services to schools, a research unit and responsibility for the conduct of public examinations.
Educational Television Unit: This recently formed section aims to produce and present E.T.V. for schools in 1970.
The Department is presently housed in a Headquarters building and four branch offices.
Schools and Colleges
There are three main types of schools; those wholly maintained and run by Government, those run by voluntary bodies with Government financial assistance in the form of recurrent aid and those which are wholly maintained and run by private bodies and individuals. Among the latter are included schools accommodated in premises not built and designed as such; it should be borne in mind that all the figures given below include places in such schools.
Kindergartens and Pre-Primary Schools
Voluntary organisations and private enterprise provide education for children aged from 3 - 6 years. They do not normally receive public assistance but some non-profit making kindergartens in government premises are charged only nominal rents. Inspectors of schools give advice to schools and organise free in-service courses of training for teachers.
At 31.3.69 107,700 children were enrolled in 672 such schools.