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Education
EDUCATION in Hong Kong reached another landmark in 1974 when the White Paper, spelling out the government's policy on the expansion of secondary education during the next decade, was tabled in the Legislative Council in October.
The government's main objective is to make available, by 1979, subsidised educa- tion for every child for nine years-six years in a primary school followed by three years in a secondary school. All children should follow a common course of general education throughout these nine years. In junior secondary forms, all pupils should follow the same general curriculum, of which between 25 per cent and 30 per cent would be allocated to practical and technical subjects. The junior secondary curric- ulum will be designed to foster a liking for practical subjects, and it will be left to the discretion of individual schools to increase the proportion of time devoted to them. Schools will also be encouraged to ensure that junior secondary pupils parti- cipate in cultural activities (such as art and music) and in physical education.
The secondary school entrance examination will be set for the last time in 1978 when sufficient aideď junior secondary places are available in 1979. A new public examination, for the Hong Kong Junior Certificate of Education, to be taken at the end of the junior secondary course will be introduced to provide a record of attainment and to act as a method of selection for the senior secondary course.
It is also the government's aim to provide sufficient places in senior secondary forms in the public sector for 40 per cent of the 15-16 age group by 1979. It is intended that 60 per cent of these places should be in the grammar forms and 40 per cent in the technical forms. For those who do not reach senior secondary schools, there will be apprenticeship schemes coupled with the services of the technical institutes, and for the most talented students, the Polytechnic.
To achieve the target of providing enough places for all children for the first three years of secondary education, a system of flotation coupled with an extended day will be introduced, as a temporary measure, into junior secondary forms until the building programme overtakes the school population.
A balanced approach will be adopted on the language of instruction. It is the government's intention that individual school authorities should themselves decide whether the medium of instruction should be English or Chinese for any particular subject in junior secondary forms. The government also intends to review the policy in the White Paper as it develops.
Under the Education Ordinance, the Director of Education is responsible for all matters relating to education in Hong Kong. He directly controls all government