SOCIAL SERVICES
fund. Grants may also be made to cover 50% of the cost of new buildings, and major repairs and interest free loans may also be advanced for new buildings. All the grant-aided schools are linked with particular missions or religious orders and a strong tradition of Christian service is maintained.
The objects of the Subsidy Code are to enable properly qualified teachers to open schools without running into debt and to keep fees at a reasonable level. It also ensures that teachers are paid adequate salaries. Most of the 316 subsidized schools are situated in rural areas. They provide primary education for boys and girls and use Chinese as the language of instruction. Without a subsidy many would be compelled either to charge high tuition fees in order to pay their staffs or to balance their budgets by paying inadequate salaries, thus lowering the standard of teaching. The amount of each subsidy varies from year to year but it is never less than half the difference between expenditure and income. A Subsidized Schools Council, whose members represent the various types of schools and the various districts in the new territories, is helping to overcome the isolation of many of the schools and facilitate the diffusion of modern educational ideas.
Private schools provide education for more than 60% of the children at school, and form an integral part of the educational system. There are now 693 such schools, and enrolment increased by almost 10,000, to 130,184, during 1952. The majority of these schools supply primary education in Chinese but 31 are com- plete Chinese secondary schools and many more have secondary classes. An increasing number offer Anglo- Chinese education and many cater especially for adults who wish to take technical, vocational or commercial subjects.
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