2
:
6.
Government has at present no policy for active participation in the pre-primary sector and no provision for subsiding their rent or other operating expenses. However the Group B kindergartens, which are operated on a non-profit-making basis, are eligible for reimbursement of rates, on the same basis as other types of non-profit-making privately- operated educational institution. The 1965 White Paper on Education Policy stated that "for the time being, it will be necessary to rely on voluntary organizations and private enterprise to provide education at this (pre- primary) level". Government's main energies in the educational field have been directed to the provision of free primary education for all, and, more recently, the achievement of targets laid down in the 1974 White Paper on Secondary Education in Hong Kong over the next decade.
It has therefore not been possible to assign any priority to the determination of new policy in the pre-primary sector, or to the allocation of funds for increased Government participation in this field.
7.
In order to keep the problem of Group B estate kindergartens in perspective it should also be noted that they provide for a total of 20,251 children. Even after the three stages of the rent adjustment these kindergartens will only be paying rent at 50 cents per square foot of space used. In other public housing estates, for the reasons given in para. 5 above, kindergartens have been provided on a commercial basis, subject to educational standards being satisfactory. Such kindergartens have been and continue to be let by restricted public tender at near commercial rents. The Authority has let 72 such kindergartens at rents ranging from 69 cents to 2.25 per sq. ft., providing for a total of 34,374 children.
8.
The Authority is aware that the effect of the rent increase for kindergartens may be that fees paid by pupils will be increased by about $9 per month over the three or four years' period. In some cases, the organizers of the kindergartens may themselves be in a position to increase their financial contribution. There has been no suggestion that this increase, spread over several years, will produce hardship, nor is there any indication that the income levels of families living on the older estates are generally lower than families on other estates where kindergartens rents are not subsidized.