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CONFIDENTIAL
6. In 1969/70 the question of Chinese as an official language
was a serious public issue. To the public the most important
question has been the formal designation of Chinese as an official
language. The Hong Kong Government's steady implementation of the
Committee's recommendations and the passing of the Official
Languages Bill should therefore remove all the heat from this
issue.
7. Speaking in Legislative Council during the debate on the Bill,
Mr Hilton Cheong-Leen said that in the years to come the Official
Languages Bill would be seen to have done much to reaffirm the
cultural dignity and pride of the Chinese residents of Hong Kong.
8. An interesting question which has emerged from the Committee's
deliberations is the extent to which Hong Kong's educational
system places equal emphasis on both languages and whether it
produces graduates who are equally adept at communication in either
of the two languages. Although this subject was outside the
Committee's terms of reference, they considered that the funda-
mental implications of the educational system in a bi-lingual
society needed some comment. (Paras 17-23 of the Report). The
indications are that the dual system of secondary education, with
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, does not tend to achieve equal standards
in both languages. This has implications for job opportunities
and could have serious repercussions on community relationships.
CONFIDENTIAL
19.