Private schools are those which are not in need of or do not merit Government assistance. They comprise 60% of the 819 schools in the Colony and cater for 65% of the total enrolment of 143,000. These schools vary considerably in size, character and purpose. Education may be conducted either in English or in Chinese and their enrolments vary from 100 pupils or less to large schools with an attendance of about 1,600 children.
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The medium of instruction in schools varies from one category to another. In some English is the sole language, in others, Chinese, and a number of schools have classes in both languages. The grant-aided schools mainly use English, although in one such school the bulk of the teaching is in Chinese. Teaching in subsidised and private schools is usually carried out in Chinese. "Chinese" in this context means, in the vast majority of cases, Cantonese, although there are a few schools whose language of instruction is Hakka, and a very few which use Kuo Yu. Kuo Yu is, however, taught as a language in many schools and is a compulsory subject in Government schools.
The Military schools cater for serving officers' and soldiers' children under the age of eleven. The staff of these schools is recruited from the Army Education Corps and the Queen's Army School-mistresses. They are exempted from the provisions of the Education Ordinance. Considerable expansion has taken place in Military schools and further building is under consideration.
The changes which have taken place in the distribution of responsibility for education can be appreciated from the following figures. In 1941 Government schools catered for 2,700 pupils, Grant schools for 10,000, Subsidised schools for 23,000 and Private schools for 80,000 pupils. To-day, the figures are 8,300 Government; 13,750 Grant-aided; 28,000 Subsidised and 93,000 Private. Government is giving assistance in one form or another to a far greater extent than formerly.
A building programme has been approved which will complete the rehabilitation and replacement of war damaged government school buildings. In all, some seventeen schools are in process of building or are in plan. These include a new Queen's College for 1,000 secondary pupils and several urban and rural primary schools. The urgent need for a six-hundred bed military hospital led to the requisition in July of La Salle College, a Grant-aided school of 1,000 pupils. By October a new temporary wooden structure with accommodation for all the pupils and complete with laboratories and great hall had been completed. Even with this large building programme, two sessional schools will have
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