E
}
- 25
growing awareness of the instrinsic value of this type of education,
the attraction of new, well-equipped school buildings in this sector
and the enhanced chances of employment for prevocational school
leavers. The inclusion of practical and technical subjects in the
curriculum of all types of school is also helping to create a general
appreciation of the importance of these forms of education in the
development of the child. Nevertheless, the development of
technical education in Hong Kong is still too closely associated in
the public mind with the extent to which general education is
provided, and is regarded by many as a mere consolation prize
except perhaps when it can be seen to offer pupils as good a chance
as any other type of education of progressing to senior secondary
and sixth-form education (as it does, for example, in the Secondary
School Places Allocation Scheme, where each of the school nets
includes prevocational and secondary technical schools). For this
reason it seems unlikely that a completely objective view of
technical education in its various forms will emerge until it is
seen to co-exist in its own right (and, for those who opt for it, to
be on a completely equal footing) with general education.
B.
TEACHERS
2.37 Analysis of teaching force In March 1980 the total
number of teachers in the kindergarten, primary, secondary and post-
secondary sectors (including teacher-training but excluding the
universities and Polytechnic) was 39,507. Appendix G consists of
tables which show the distribution of the teaching force by sex,
type of school, qualification and training.
Reference to the tables
shows: