EDUCATION
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On 8th November 1961, a Youth Festival was held at the Hong Kong Football Club stadium in honour of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent and students from 300 schools attended. Over 3,000 children and young people took part in the display, which included classical Chinese dancing, games and gymnastics.
MUSIC, DRAMA AND ART IN THE SCHOOLS
These subjects occupy an important place in the school curricu- lum and in extra-curricular activities.
Music. The Schools' Music Association presented 20 concerts by local and visiting artists to its student members. This compares with nine concerts last year, and is indicative of the larger number of performers visiting Hong Kong during concert tours. Member- ship of the Association rose from 3,782 to over 4,000. The 13th Annual Schools Music Festival was held in March and attracted over 3,200 entries, compared with 2,426 in 1960. Three external examiners instead of one as in previous years, were invited to adjudicate at the Festival. The syllabus for the 14th Schools Music Festival was published early in September. There was a record entry of 2,676 candidates for the practical examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Figures-just published by the Board indicate that Hong Kong's entry last year was second only to New Zealand in the 30 Commonwealth countries in which the Board examines. In the Board's examina- tions in Theory there was a total of 1,047 candidates. The Annual Conference for Music Teachers was held during the summer vacation.
Drama. Dramatic activities figure largely in extra-curricular activities in schools, and many plays in both English and Cantonese were performed during the year. Students are also able to see a variety of plays performed by good local drama groups, the most recent being Peter Schaeffer's 'Five Finger Exercise'.
Art. The chief event of the year was the outstanding success of Hong Kong school children in an international art exhibition held in Rome in connexion with the Olympic Games. Thirty six pictures were sent and the awards gained included one gold medal, two silver medals and one bronze medal. Twenty six diplomas were also awarded. Poster competitions were held for the