HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 1 June 1988
1507
MR. SZETO (in Cantonese): Sir, recently the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union submitted a copy of a teacher's contract to the Education Department, pointing out that the clauses have contravened the code of aid and the conditions of service, but the Education Department did not conduct any investigation nor take up the matter with the school concerned. It only said it could not investigate so many aided schools and refused to tackle the matter. Actually we were not talking about all schools in the territory but only the school about which a complaint had been made. Will Government inform this Council whether the Education Depart- ment's response is in line with what has been said by the Secretary?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, I do not know about the case that Mr. SZETO Wah has referred to. I will discuss it with the Director of Education.
MR. SZETO (in Cantonese): Sir, I am very pleased to hand the case to the Secretary for Education and Manpower. Will he accept this case?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, I will certainly discuss it with the director. I am not sure what 'accept' means but, to the extent of discussing it with the director, I will accept it.
Student travel subsidy scheme
7. MRS. TAM asked (in Cantonese): Will Government inform this Council of the nature and extent of the consultation made in revising the student travel subsidy scheme? In particular, were the departments responsible for culture, recreation, civic education, and youth activities consulted before deciding on the revision? If not, why not?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, the student travel subsidy scheme has been revised several times. A major review was conducted in 1985 and 86, following criticisms of the scheme by the Finance Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Director of Audit, and the question of whether the scheme should include recreational trips was fully considered in that review. The Municipal Services Branch and the City and New Territories Administration were consulted.
Following this consultation, the OMELCO Education Panel considered the issue on 20 December 1985. The panel agreed that consideration should be given to excluding recreational trips from the subsidy. At this meeting apparently Mrs. TAM was of the view that a transport subsidy was not an effective means of promoting recreational activities among students. She felt that their participation depended more on the nature of the programme than the cost of transport.