REVIEW
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resettlement estates. These schools will also be housed in buildings of standard design, but the Education Department will operate them. Another educational suggestion on the Government list is the provision of Junior Secondary Schools. Again a standard design will be used, but these schools are a new departure for Hong Kong and to some extent the curriculum must be experi- mental. The need for them arises from the fact that not all the children who pass through the primary schools are temperamen- tally suited to an academic secondary school education: the pur- pose of which is to provide an opportunity for children to go on to a higher education if they exhibit sufficient capacity. Further- more, in many cases the family cannot afford to support a child right through a normal secondary school course. Such children are at present at something of a disadvantage, and the purpose of these schools is to fill the gap between primary school and employ- ment age with an education which, though well-rounded, is never- theless directed towards the needs of a boy whose future may lie in becoming a junior technician or a skilled workman. The Educa- tion Department will also run these schools.
It has already been mentioned that the existing programme stretches Hong Kong's resources of skilled manpower to the limit, and that this imposes unwelcome limitations on the general development of social services. With this in mind, the official list of projects includes a proposal to establish a fund for the support of training schemes generally. If it is to be of best use, it must operate in a highly flexible manner, financing training projects both within and outside the Colony for either individuals or groups of individuals: the only criterion being that the training given should in some way assist the quicker development of the social services. It is not only the Government which lacks trained workers; many voluntary agencies too have an urgent need for them; and very great benefit could result from the establishment of this fund if only in providing social welfare institutions with the trained staff to man them properly.
Next on the official list is a group of three medical projects: an infirmary for chronic tuberculosis cases, to relieve the hospitals of the need to care for this type of patient (tuberculosis is still Hong Kong's biggest health problem, although there has been substantial progress in combating it); expansion of existing