will enter senior secondary grammar or senior secondary technical forms. It is intended that 60% of the places should be in senior secondary grammar forms and 40% in senior secondary technical forms, although this ratio may take some time to achieve in view of the exist- ing preponderance of secondary grammar schools. It is the Government's aim that there should be sufficient places in senior secondary forms in the public sector for 40% of the 15-16 age group by 1979. In due course, the Government will consider whether a higher target percentage should be set for the public sector, though it should be remembered that the private sector will continue to offer an alternative for children ineligible for subsidized education in Forms IV and V and for those who opt for education in the private sector, so that the overall per- centage of children for whom post-Form III secondary education will be available by 1979 will exceed 40% and will be at least 55%; this latter figure may well be not far short of the total of those who want to continue their education after Form III.
2.9 Senior secondary courses will follow curricula leading to the Hong Kong Certificate of Education, which is taken at the end of Form V; and one third of pupils entering Form IV should obtain places in lower Form VI where they can prepare for higher education.
2.10 There will be no automatic promotion from junior secondary to senior secondary forms. Selection and allocation procedures for the senior secondary course will be conducted by the Education Depart- ment and will be based on the results of a new public examination (to be called the Hong Kong Junior Certificate of Education) which will be taken at the end of the junior secondary course. As far as possible, children selected to continue beyond Form III should be permitted to do so in the senior section of the same school, and the allocation procedure will be so designed.
Prevocational schools and technical education
2.11 It is recognized that the proposed plan of expansion must place the correct emphasis on technical education. The increasingly sophisticated industrial requirements of the next decade will best be met by providing workers with a basic minimum nine year course of general education but with a practical and technical content of 25-30%. This will provide the foundation on which further industrial training can be given. The pre-vocational concept by which a three year technical course is given after a basic six year primary course is not
5