3.5
· 3-
have far-reaching implications which impinge simultaneously upon the
work of many different departments and non-government agencies. The
co-ordinating role of the Secretary is important in such cases in the
promotion of cohesive policies which might otherwise become fragmented.
The Secretary for Social Services at present supervises the
entire education programme area. Direct control of the various services
with educational implications is, however, shared among a number of
individual officers or institutions, as shown in the table at paragraph
3.6 below. In some cases public officers are charged with specific
statutory responsibilities: Section 4 of the Education Ordinance, for
example, states that "the Director (of Education) shall be charged with
the superintendence of matters relating to education in Hong Kong" and
that "the Director shall promote the education of the people of Hong Kong
and control and direct education policy." The Director's powers are
limited by Sections 2 and 6 of the Ordinance. Section 2 states that the
Ordinance shall not apply to the two universities, the Hong Kong Polytechnic
or any post-secondary college registered under the Post Secondary Colleges
Ordinance. (Under the latter ordinance the Director of Education is at
present responsible for the registration and control of the Approved Post
Secondary Colleges: however, amendments are now being considered to
reflect the new role of the colleges as described in the 1978 White Paper.)
Section 6 provides for the power of direction by the Governor: under the
system described in paragraph 3.4 the policy Secretary holds a watching
brief on behalf of the Governor in this regard.
3.6
The following table shows the present division of responsibility
for programme areas with major educational implications: