106
EDUCATION
To improve educational services further and in keeping with the district administration system, the department operates on a regional basis, under which the whole of Hong Kong is divided into 15 educational districts. Each district is headed by a Senior Education Officer. The function of the senior education officers is to supervise the administration of schools within their districts and to provide advice and assistance to schools, teachers, parents and students as well as to act as a channel of communication between them and the department. Senior education officers also attend district board meetings to assist with discussions on educational matters.
The Education Records Unit is now preparing for the development and implementation of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and the Pupil Record Card System (PRCS). For the EMIS, a mini-computer system with five work-stations will be purchased to store, retrieve and process data on schools, teachers and personnel data of the department so as to enhance its capability in administration, planning and provision of educational facilities. The mini-computer system will be delivered by January 1988 and the system will be ready for operation by April 1989. The PRCS, which is a computer-based system, will record information on about one million pupils from Primary 1 to Secondary 7. The system will be implemented in stages over a period of four to five years. With such a computerised and up-to-date pupil register, the department will be able to identify dropout pupils for the purpose of enforcing compulsory education. Valuable statistics will also be derived from the system to assist in the planning, formulation and administration of education policies.
Expenditure
The annual estimates of expenditure for the financial year beginning in April 1987 provided for $1,001 million in capital expenditure for educational projects and $8,757 million in recurrent expenditure, representing 18 per cent of the total budget.
Kindergartens
Pre-primary education for children in the three-to-six age group is provided in kindergar- tens, which are operated by voluntary organisations and private bodies. In September, there were 829 kindergartens with an enrolment of 225 108 children. These kindergartens are registered under the Education Ordinance and supervised by the department. In addition to the allocation of premises to non-profit-making kindergarten operators in public housing estates, other government assistance for this level of education includes the reimbursement of rates and rents to the non-profit-making kindergartens and fee assistance to needy parents.
Officers of the department are responsible for the supervision of kindergartens and also offer professional advice to school managers, teachers, parents and the public. In-service training for teachers is provided through seminars, workshops, exhibitions and training courses, including a two-year part-time course conducted by Grantham College of Education and a 12-week part-time course operated twice a year by the Advisory Inspectorate of the Education Department, with annual intakes of 240 and 360 teachers respectively. In addition, a 12-week part-time evening course for kindergarten teachers was offered during the year by the Grantham College of Education. The Kindergarten Section of the Advisory Inspectorate also organised workshops on the promotion of civic education in schools.
Four serving kindergarten teachers were released from their teaching duties, through the courtesy of their employers, to serve as members of the Education Department's kindergar-