upon the rate of completion of new school buildings and the extent to which aided schools are able and willing to increase their enrolments by flotation/extended day operation.
3.10 It is not proposed to increase enrolments in Forms IV and V by use of the flotation/extended day method. 66,913 places will be available in September 1979 in Forms IV and V of Government, aided and assisted private schools against a target figure of 85,920 places [see paragraph 3.3 above]. The balance of about 19,000 places will have to be 'bought' in private schools and there is no reason to doubt that this will be available.
Bought places
3.11 It should be noted that while the number of 'bought' places proposed to achieve targets in the public sector in Forms IV to V will increase from 3,000 in September 1974 to 19,000 in September 1979, there will be a relatively smaller increase in 'bought' places in Forms I to III. The latter will increase from 64,000 in September 1974 to the target of 77,000 by September 1979. The reason for this comparatively modest increase is that in order to achieve the 1976 target of secondary places in Forms I to III of the public sector for 50% of the 12-14 age group, it has already become necessary to place maximum reliance on the buying of such places in the private sector. Recourse to buying of places was necessary to offset the time required to carry through the secondary school building programme. As a result the majority of places of an acceptable standard in Forms I to III of the private sector have already been taken up and present indications are that there is only a limited reserve of 'unbought' private secondary places available between now and 1979.
Spare accommodation in primary schools
3.12 As a result of the current downward trend in the primary age group, the preference of some parents for places in the private sector, and the movement of population from one district to another, some primary school premises in the public sector are under-utilized. Such schools are mostly on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories, while in Kowloon the majority of primary schools are fully utilized.
3.13 A feasibility study has indicated that the conversion of a primary school to secondary school operation is usually uneconomic if
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