A SURVEY ON THE NEED FOR STUDY ROOMS IN RESETTLEMENT ESTATES
by the Education Action Group
June, 1977
I. INTRODUCTION
A. The Objective of the Survey
The Education Action Group is very concerned about effects that living environ- ment and family educational background may have on the school performance of students living in resettlement estates.
Through meetings with parents, school social workers and community workers in resettlement estates, EAG discovered that many children go to bed at 8 p.m. and are awakened at 11 p.m. when the rest of the family sleeps. The students then study without distraction, often with the lamp covered to avoid disturbing their sleeping families, until 2 or 3 a.m. and then sleep another 3-4 hours til morning. Others arise at 4 or 5 a.m. while the family is still asleep. Parents admit this is bad for their children's health but see no alternative to cope with continuous heavy homework and examination pressures in extremely overcrowded and noisy (usually one room) flats.
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Thousands of children live with these terrible handicaps yet many schools in resettlement estates are not fully utilized in the evenings. These schools could provide ideal study places for children living in the estates. In April, EAG called on the Education Department to provide subsidy for Government aided schools in public
· housing estates to open 7 10 p.m. for students in need of a quiet place to study.
Following our request to the Education Department, EAG embarked on a survey in aight resettlement estates to determine students' wishes on study room provisions.
B. Methodology
EAG used the simple random sampling method in the following Resettlement Estates: Tsui Ping, Sau Mau Ping, Tai Wo Hau, Kwai Chung, Wang Tau Hom, Tai Hang Tung, Tsz Wan Shan and Tung Tau Chuan, 1140 questionnaires were distributed to primary 3, 4 and 5 students in 12 schools. Primary 6 students ware excluded from the survey because they were preparing for the Secondary School Entrance Examination. Secondary students were not included because of difficulty in managing to survey both groups. Also, EAG was aware that if primary students expressed a need for study rooms, secondary students would have an even greater need and if parents would allow primary students to use study room facilities, parents of secondary students would be more willing to allow their children to use the facilities. About 30 questionnaires were invalid due to being either incomplete or illegible. All following figures are based on the 1110 valid copies. The survey was completed in mid-May and this report compiled in June.
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