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Annex B
ef. CR 26/2041/76 VII
Draft of White Paper
Senior secondary and tertiary education
Chapter 1 : Introduction
1.1
During the past two decades, the Government's main priority, in the development of education in Hong Kong, has heen the progressive extension of the period of universal education. The first aim was to make primary education available to all. The White Paper of 19651 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 primary education free and compulsory. The main proposal in the 1974 White Paper2 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.
1. Education policy
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2. Secondary Education in Hong Kong over the Next Decade
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