Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 During the past two decades, the Government's main priority, in the development of education in Hong Kong, has been the progressive extension of the period of universal education. The first aim was to make primary education available to all. The White Paper of 1965 outlined a scheme for providing subsidised primary school places for all who want them. By 1971 there were sufficient primary school places for all children in the age-group; measures were then taken to make
2 primary education free and compulsory. The main proposal in the 1974 White Paper was to extend universal education to the junior secondary forms. From 1978, all primary school leavers will be offered three years of junior secondary education and tuition fees will be abolished in junior secondary forms in all schools in the public sector. The Director of Education's powers to enforce school attendance will be extended progressively until they cover children up to their fifteenth birthday who have not yet completed Form III.
1.2 Thus, every Hong Kong child will have nine years of basic education. This will be universal, free and compulsory and will extend to his 15th birthday or completion of Form III. This will enable a child to remain in school until he has attained an appropriate age for entering industrial or general employment. Beyond this stage, education will remain voluntary and will take diverse forms, to reflect the different aptitudes and inclinations of students and their wish to study full-time or on a part-time basis, in conjunction with employment. Some kind of selection is necessary, as most of the courses available assume some level of previous attainment and are pitched at a standard which not all students can meet. Therefore places on these courses should be provided only for a proportion of the population. It is not the intention to extend free education beyond the basic nine years, though fee remission or grant and loan schemes will protect those who would otherwise face financial hardship.
1.3 The priority given to primary and junior secondary education has had the advantage of enabling tangible results to be achieved in a relatively short period of time, though there have been disadvantages. The expansion of subsidised primary education at a faster pace than secondary education has enabled most of the younger generation in Hong Kong to receive a basic education and to master essential skills of literacy and numeracy, but it led to severe competition for secondary school places in the public sector, which has exerted an unhealthy influence on primary school teaching. Furthermore, by concentrating resources on the quantitative expansion of education, less has been available for qualitative improvements.
1.4 The current review of senior secondary and tertiary education has attempted to remedy some of these defects. By putting forward measures for the quantitative expansion of all stages of education beyond the basic course, it aims to reduce the competition for places among suitable students. It makes proposals also for qualitative development.
1.5 The proposals in this White Paper will do much to raise the standard of that part of the education service within its purview. Some of them, in particular the improved courses of teacher training and the greater range of opportunities for extended education, with the resulting increase in the numbers of well-educated young people, should have beneficial effects on education as a whole. Yet no statement of policy should seek to impose a fixed pattern on future develop- ment. Education policy must be subject to a continuous process of review and be receptive to new ideas. The Government has therefore agreed, in response to a suggestion from the Board of Education, to initiate as a longer-term development an overall review of the education system. This review will be conducted by a mixed group of local residents and overseas experts. Its main aim will be to consider the inter-relationship of each part of the education service and the effectiveness of its contribution.
1 Education policy
2 Secondary Education in Hong Kong over the Next Decade
1