HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
香港立法局
28 June 1989 一九八九年六月二十八日
39
But what I find most puzzling is the totally closed-door nature of the working group. What is to be gained by shutting out completely the operators and the professionals from the process of deliberation and planning? Is the Government not aware that there are extremely competent bodies such as the Alliance on the Improvement of Pre-primary Policies consisting of 15 highly respected and recognized member organizations of the field and the Non-profit- making Kindergarten Council of Hong Kong, which could render excellent and invaluable advice? Why is there no place for them in today's open government?
I strongly request Government to take urgent action where it is long overdue and to demonstrate the sincerity and resolve required to rescue the pre-primary sector by:
(a) sharing its plans and inviting views from outside the mandarin's castle as soon as possible, with the clear objectives to tackle the problems efficiently and effectively; I believe such a task can be undertaken within weeks if it is given the push in the right direction by the bureaucratic will.
(b) upgrading the professional level of kindergarten teachers by setting an acceptable salary level, and here I strongly support the proposal put forward by the Alliance on the Improvement of Pre-primary Policies which I consider modest and quite reasonable, and by subsidizing the salaries of teachers in non-profit-making well operated kindergartens which are suffering financially; and
(c) ensuring that fee assistance scheme benefits as many of those who are eligible as possible by introducing immediately necessary changes to the present system.
I hope we will get some definitive reply from the Secretary for Education and Manpower concerning these requests. It is high time to recognize that the problems that plague our pre-primary education sector will not go away by themselves. The working group must justify its name by coming up with a plan which must work and put it to work with great urgency. Sir, all the excuses not to act have been exhausted in the last eight years, any more delay will be quite intolerable.
Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.