that his Division is not presently equipped to assess standards of translation and co-ordinate the necessary training and examination machinery. One possible answer is to re-inforce the General Grades Division but we feel that a better alternative is to place the responsibility for the Grade in the officer who is charged with the enforcement of Government's policy on bilingualism. We therefore recommend that the 'Central Authority' referred to in paragraph 47 of our Second Report should, in addition to his responsibility for enforcement, be responsible for the administra- tion of the Interpreter/Translator Grade including the co-ordina- tion of training and examinations.
16. We are aware that a new specialist grade of Court Inter- preter has recently been created with similar conditions of service as the Interpreter/Translator Grade. The need for court inter- pretation of the highest possible quality is obvious. We therefore recommend that arrangements similar to those proposed in para- graphs 11 to 14(b) should apply to this new Grade and that there should be a Chief Court Interpreter, who should be responsible to the 'Central Authority', to administer the Grade and to co- ordinate training and examinations. We also recommend that the Chief Court Interpreter should be renumerated at the salary scale $3,904 $5,223, by 7 increments.
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
17. Strictly speaking, Hong Kong's Educational System is a subject which falls outside our terms of reference. However, as many of the 228 letters received by us have suggested, this is a subject which has fundamental implications in a bilingual society and thus, we feel, deserves some comment.
18. Our educational system caters for both the Chinese and English languages at all levels of education. At the secondary level, we have the Anglo-Chinese schools where the main medium of instruction is English, and the Chinese Middle schools where the main medium of instruction is Chinese. This dual system of secondary education therefore produces a situation whereby graduates from Anglo-Chinese schools have a standard of English which is generally higher than that of their Chinese Middle school counterparts, whilst the reverse is true of standards in Chinese.
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Also, generally speaking, Anglo-Chinese secondary school grad- uates, because of their relatively higher standard of English, tend to find it easier to secure reasonable jobs in both Government and private enterprise. As a result, parents have preferred to send their children to Anglo-Chinese schools and there were, as at 31st March, 1971, 176,119 students in these schools, representing 78.67% of the total secondary school student population. These facts in themselves illustrate the need for an analysis based on the proper perspective of the relative importance of both Chinese and English in our community.
19. The Chinese language in one dialect or another is the mother tongue of over 98%* of our population. Admittedly, Chinese dialects are numerous, but the written language is uniform and is the major link between the people of our community and their cultural heritage. In the light of these considerations, it would be patently wrong to relegate the Chinese language to a position of secondary importance. On the other hand, English is the language most used internationally. It is the world's premier commercial and technical language, the universal language of shipping and aviation, and is the language spoken by some two- thirds of those who buy or use Hong Kong made products. Our export trade with English speaking markets is the very foundation of Hong Kong's economic viability and this is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
20. In the light of these considerations, we are convinced that both the Chinese and English languages are of equal importance for Hong Kong. Therefore, ideally, we should have an educational system which places equal emphasis on both languages and which produces a breed of graduates who are equally adept at com- municating in either of the two languages.
21. According to an announcement by the Director of Educa- tion on 1st April, 1971, a common Certificate of Education will replace the present Hong Kong Certificate of Education (English) and Hong Kong Certificate of Education (Chinese) in either 1974 or 1975 and candidates may then have the choice of answering examination papers, apart from the language subjects, in either English or Chinese. Theoretically, this would give the same value
* Figures taken from the 1966 By-Census Report.
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