E/1982/3/Add.16
English Page 68
available for every child in the primary school age group. Primary education normally commences at the age of six years.
3. While primary education is not "compulsory" as such, where it appears to the Director of Education that a parent of a child is withholding a child from attending primary school without any reasonable excuse, the Director may serve upon a parent an attendance order requiring him to cause the child to attend regularly as a pupil of the primary school named in the attendance order. While these powers
do not in a strict legal sense constitute compulsory attendance, they are nevertheless intended substantially to achieve the same effect.
Paragraph_2_(b)
4.
Secondary education is available to all on completion of the primary course. Free junior secondary education is provided for all primary leavers from standard primary schools. This is a three-year course in Government schools and schools in receipt of aid and other forms of financial assistance from the Government. Technical and pre-vocational schools are included in this provision.
5. A child in the relevant age group may be made the subject of an attendance order. Thus, a course of nine years free education is available to all.
6. As regards the senior secondary level, it has, since 1978, been a policy aim to provide subsidized (but not entirely free) senior secondary places for 60 per cent of the fifteen-year-old population in 1981, rising to more than 70 per cent by 1986. Progress towards these targets has been substantial. It is anticipated that provision will reach 58 per cent in 1981, 62 per cent in 1982, and 65 per cent in 1983. Courses in five Government technical institutes are also available at this level. The provision of Form VI places in Government and aided schools is in accordance with a policy objective, established in 1978, for providing subsidized Lower Form VI places for one third of the pupils entering subsidized Form IV places, with progression to Upper Form VI in schools operating a two-year sixth-form course.
Paragraph 2 (c)
7. Admission to institutions of higher education financed by the Government is on merit. The number of applicants fulfilling minimum entrance requirements exceeds the places available, despite the considerable expansion of places in recent years. However, the nature and scale of provision at this level are under review.
8. In December 1980, full-time enrolments were 5,404 at the Hong Kong University, 5,043 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and 11,637 at the Polytechnic. the 1981-1984 triennium, the target growth rate at the universities will be 4 per cent per annum. This figure is under review. It is thus anticipated that the total university student population will be at least 11,620 by the academic year 1983-1984.
At that date, full-time enrolment at the Polytechnic will be 12,000. The current review may result in much higher figures.
For
9.
Financial assistance to needy students at these institutions is available in the form of scholarships, bursaries and loans.
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