Question 9
Reply by the Hon. Michael Leung, JP, Director of Education, to a Legislative Council Question by the Hon. Chan Ying-lun
on 6 February 1985
Question: Can Government inform this Council whether :
(a) there has been any significant reduction in
the number of classes in private secondary schools;
(b) if so, what are the reasons for this?
sir,
It is true that there has been an overall reduction
in the total number of classes in private secondary schools
in recent years. There are several reasons for this, the first of which is purely technical. In 1982 and 1983, 59 private
non-profit-making secondary schools became fully aided. Their
classes are thus no longer classified as private secondary.
Excluding these 59 schools, between 1980 and 1984,
the average annual rates of reduction in the number of
operating classes in all private secondary schools were
8.6% in Forms I to III and 9.7% in Forms IV to V, although
in Forms VI to VII there was an average annual increase of 3.8%.
The general reduction in Forms I to V classes is
due to two main factors. Between 1980 and 1984, there was
an average annual decrease of 3.7% in the number of children
in the 12-16 age group. Secondly, during the same period,
there was a continuous increase in the supply of public
sector places upon the completion of 46 new government and
aided schools in the Secondary Schools Building Programme.