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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON MARIA TAM, OBE, JP LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 23.1.1985
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Education Commission Report No. 1
Sir,
The timing of the phasing out of the Junior Secondary Education Assessment (JSEA) is an issue of great concern in the community of Hong Kong. As a member of the Education Commission, I wish to make use of this opportunity to look into some of the main criticisms and put them in proper perspective.
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The first criticism is that we should abolish the JSEA as soon as possible by buying Form 4 places from private schools. In order to achieve this, a large sum of money will be required for the purchase of F 4-5 places from private schools and which can be better and more effectively used to improve the quality of education. If we were to buy F 4-5 places from both the satisfactory and unsatisfactory private secondary schools now, the only benefit would be students in The these schools would have their fees paid by tax-payers. community at large, however, will not benefit nor will there be necessarily any improvement in the quality of post-F 3 education. In view of this, the Commission has recommended that funds should be used to build more good quality secondary schools, improve teacher quality and the quality of technical and vocational education.
Between now and 1991 when the JSEA is to be phased out, there will be improvements both in the quality and quantity of post-F 3 education year by year* and more and more students will be able to benefit.
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