ANNEX B
ON TO DE-A made
Extract from a letter from the Secretary of State to the
Governor of 3 August, 1970.
"Education
I believe that an early announcement of the
introduction of compulsory primary education, free of charge, would do much to improve Hong Kong's "image" both in this country and elsewhere. It is my under- standing that such an announcement would also meet with general approval in the colony itself now that a new public assistance scheme has been announced. I am assuming
that this new scheme will make it unnecessary for the
children of poorer families to work to supplement the
family income. I know all the practical difficulties in the way of enforcing compulsory primary education but I am not convinced that it would be right to delay the intro- duction of this important measure for that reason alone."
Extract from a letter from the Governor to the
Secretary of State of 17 September.
"You raise two points in the field of education,
and I should first explain that on these we are already
further forward than has perhaps been brought to your
attention. The offer of a fee-free primary education to
all desiring it has been a stated goal for some 15 years at
least; and during this period fees have been progressively reduced; but we have only recently achieved the background
situation and provided the infrastructure necessary to
climinate fees entirely. This has taken time because of the
need, in constructing this infrastructure, to cater for a
4-fold increase in population since the late 1940s.
2. But I now hope and expect that, subject to the approval of the Legislature, all fees will be eliminated from the normal run of Government and Government-aided primary schools at a
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