EMPLOYMENT
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individual mills. The garment manufacturing industry also has its schemes for the training of newly engaged operatives.
Training centres run by certain voluntary welfare organizations as well as by certain government departments offer various forms. of vocational training, mainly for the seriously handicapped and physically disabled. These courses vary widely in standards and range from skilled trades to commercial training, domestic science, catering, and handicraft. A functional committee to co-ordinate these activities, where they have a vocational training content, was established under the Industrial Training Advisory Committee at the end of 1966.
d
The Hong Kong Technical College is the principal government institution providing technical education at technologist, technician, craft, and pre-apprentice or pre-craft levels. There are, in addition, six government secondary technical schools, two government subsidized institutions, and one private school providing technical education for boys at secondary level. Seven government sub- sidized and thirty-two private schools also offer training along the lines of secondary modern schools. The courses, of varying stand- ards, are offered for aircraft mechanics, radio operators, radio technicians, typists, stenographers, book-keepers, dress-makers, painters, and motor-car drivers. The proposed Technical Institute will concentrate upon pre-apprenticeship, craft apprenticeship, and instructor training and will take over such courses at present being run by the Hong Kong Technical College, thus permitting the latter to concentrate on the higher levels.
Apprenticeship systems in Hong Kong fall into either the traditional sector or the modern westernized sector. The latter system, based on the British pattern of craft apprenticeship, is followed by government workships and some of the larger in- dustrial concerns. A special feature is the award of overseas training opportunities to outstanding technical apprentices who have com- pleted local training. The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company of Hong Kong Limited, the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company Limited, and the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited train substantial numbers of apprentices, while some public utility companies train a smaller number.