3.
By and large the local Chinese community welcomed
the policy of parity of subsidy. The expatriate
community on the other hand strongly opposed the
Government's proposal to increase the fees. The
matter was hotly debated in the local press and
a number of Members of Parliament received letters
from Hong Kong on the subject. Petitions were
sent to the Secretary of State by the Joint Council
of Parent/Teacher Associations of the English-
speaking schools and by the Association of European
Civil Servants. The latter organisation at one
point contemplated taking the unprecedented step
of sending a delegation to London to appeal to
the Secretary of State.
4. In reply to this criticism the Government
explained that -
(a) For several years (1965-69) the fees
at the English schools had been held
at an artificially low level;
(b) The increase in fees was necessary as
a result of the implementation of the
policy of parity for educational
subsidies agreed in 1965;
(c) Costings undertaken in 1970 with a view
to reviewing the scale of fees recommended
in 1965 had shown that the English
schools were much more expensive to run
than the equivalent Chinese schools; (a) The principle of parity of subsidy was
accepted by the vast majority of parents
(e),
in Hong Kong; Equitable arrangements
would be made for parents in the lower
income groups.
15.
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