HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 18 January 1989
香港立法局 ———————————一九八九年一月十八日
22
SECRETARY FOR EDUACTION AND MANPOWER: Sir, it is not clear what the question is actually getting at. I cannot see the connection between unification and financial situation of kindergartens.
MR. DAVID CHEUNG: Sir, it takes almost three years to review the situation regarding kindergarten and child care centres. In his answer, the Secretary says once a programme of improvements to kindergarten education has commenced, then the working group will be able to turn its attention to the longer-term question. Will the Secretary please inform this Council within what time span he would expect the second long-term question to be tackled?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, as I said in my original reply, we hope to have proposals on improvements to kindergartens ready within the next few months and we will then turn to the other issue.
MR. HUI: Sir, we understand that all other chapters of the Education Commission's Report No. 2, except the one on pre-primary services, have already been endorsed by the Executive Council. The endorsement of the chapter on pre-primary services has been held in obeyance awaiting the recommendation of this working group. Could the Secretary for Education and Manpower inform this Council why it took more than two years, or almost three years, for the working group to come to the present state of affairs and how many meetings this working group has actually convened during this period?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, the commission proposed to encourage higher standards of staffing in kindergartens through a revision of the fee assistance scheme to needy parents. The proposal was that more assistance should be given to parents choosing kindergartens which spent more on staff. During the public consultation, this recommendation was seen by many respondents as complicated and difficult to implement. Also, since the report was published, the general increase in prosperity in Hong Kong has led to a considerable drop in the number of parents needing fee assistance, from 57% when Report No. 2 was drafted to about 40% now. We are therefore considering other ways to help kindergartens to improve their staffing.
MRS. CHOW: Would the Secretary inform this Council what the Administration's attitude is towards the proposal to unify the two services and whether he can confirm that there will be no backtracking of that intention to