EDUCATION
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The 14 adult education and recreation centres providing informal education, together with an attached centre at Cheung Chau, organise a wide variety of cultural, social and recreational activities designed to stimulate individual awareness of the community, cultivate creative ability and develop individual talents. Three of the centres have moved to Shau Kei Wan, Lok Fu and Kwun Tong to meet increased demand in those districts.
About 22,000 people are enrolled in the formal courses and about 32,000 in the informal courses. The Adult Education Section also helps the Prisons Department and the Social Welfare Department organise classes and provide professional expertise in general and practical subjects for inmates of various prisons, addiction treatment centres and rehabilitation homes.
Examinations
The secondary school entrance examination - which selected primary school leavers for places in government and aided secondary schools, and for assisted places in private secondary schools - was conducted by the Education Department for the last time in May, 1977. Some 75.1 per cent of the 98,143 candidates who sat this examination were allocated public secondary school places. Form I places in secondary schools will be provided for all Primary VI leavers from 1978, and will be allocated under a new system based on internal assessment in schools and a centrally adminis- tered academic aptitude test.
An ordinance to provide for the establishment of an independent Hong Kong Examinations Authority was enacted on May 5, 1977. The authority, established on August 1, has taken over from the Education Department the responsibility for conducting the Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination, primarily held for students who have completed secondary education up to Form V. The authority also will administer the matriculation examination of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1979 and the advanced level examination of the University of Hong Kong from 1980.
On September 1, the authority also assumed the responsibility for conducting all overseas examinations previously held by the Education Department on behalf of various examining bodies in Britain and elsewhere. These examinations include the General Certificate of Education, the test of English as a foreign language and many others that enable students to acquire academic and professional qualifications. Appendix 21 lists the more important examinations held in Hong Kong in the past three years and the number of candidates who sat them.
Advisory Inspectorate
The main function of the Education Department's Advisory Inspectorate is to promote quality in the classroom. This involves frequent visits to schools by specialist advisory inspectors, the development of advisory services and facilities, and the pro- vision of courses, seminars and workshops for practising teachers. The inspectorate also evaluates textbooks, new and existing courses and instructional materials, and carries out educational research and guidance and curriculum development. Close liaison with other bodies, such as the various local examination authorities, is main- tained.