6
Education
MEASURES to speed up the secondary education expansion programme were approved in 1976 to enable the government to provide a subsidised Form I secondary school place for every Primary 6 leaver in 1978-one year ahead of the target laid down in the White Paper on Education.
The measures include the building by 1978 of 33 new schools and the conversion of a number of under-used primary schools to create 13 new secondary schools and two annexes to existing schools. Certain temporary expedients will also have to be taken including the flotation of classes, an extended day system of operation, and the purchase of places in private schools. To reduce the reliance on these temporary expedients, it is planned to build a further 35 new secondary schools by Septem- ber 1981.
The provision of secondary schooling for all primary school leavers will eliminate the need to compete for places through the secondary school entrance examination, and this examination will be set for the last time in 1977. Children who entered Primary 5 in September 1976 will be the first to take part in new procedures for the allocation of secondary school places-based on recommendations of the working party on the replacement of the secondary school entrance examination. The main feature of the new system will be the allocation of pupils to schools on an area basis and on the results of three internal school assessments. A centrally administered academic aptitude test will also be introduced to monitor and scale the internal assessments.
Emphasis was also placed in, 1976 on improving the quality of education. Provisional syllabuses for junior secondary forms were produced for the new common- core curriculum. Corresponding syllabuses at senior secondary level were also reviewed and revised to ensure that they provide a good foundation for pupils to sit the Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination.
In September, the Educational Television Service (ETV) was extended to secondary schools as well as primary schools. The new programmes are all in colour and about $2.5 million has been spent on providing schools with video cassette recorders and colour television receivers. More than 80,000 Form I pupils are benefit- ing from the new service, which will be extended to Form II in 1978 and Form III in 1979.
An Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council, Mr Q. W. Lee, was appointed by the Governor as the new chairman of the Board of Education in June for a period of two years. The Director of Education continues to be the vice-chairman of the